Flood death toll stands at 95 in Kerr County
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Crews clear damage near the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on Tuesday. Photo: Jorge Salgado/Anadolu via Getty Images
Authorities said the death toll in Kerr County, epicenter of the July Fourth Texas floods, now stands at 95, including 36 children.
The big picture: Authorities are now concentrating on sorting through debris as they search for victims.
- Five campers and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls camp by the Guadalupe River, are among 161 people missing in Kerr County
- Statewide, at least 110 people died from the weekend floods.
Catch up quick: The river spilled its banks early Friday with ferocious speed and power. Meteorologists say forecasting models struggled to pinpoint where and when the heaviest rain would fall, and there is no warning system in Kerr County.
Zoom in: Speaking at a Wednesday morning news conference, local authorities described the harrowing efforts to evacuate and rescue people in the early morning hours of July Fourth.
- Sgt. Jonathan Lamb of the Kerrville Police Department said one officer, finding himself alone in a rapidly flooding RV site, turned on his sirens and his public-address system and drove up and down the roads imploring people to evacuate, and then began hoisting people out of windows amid chest-deep water.
- Another officer tied a garden hose around himself and, anchored by a partner, waded into fast-moving water to evacuate people in a home.
- "Folks, I don't know how many lives our KPD team saved in an hour in Kerrville, but I know this tragedy, as horrific as it was, could have been so much worse," Lamb said.
Between the lines: Local officials — as with their counterparts on the state level — have faced scrutiny over their preparation for floodwaters in an area known as flash flood alley.
- On Wednesday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said: "This event will be reviewed, you'll have my word."
What's next: Officials asked property owners not to disturb debris piles before they are checked by members of victim search crews.
- "We know folks are beginning to clean up and we have large debris piles," Lamb said. We ask them not to use heavy equipment to take down those debris piles until they're checked by a search team. It's possible there's a victim in that debris pile."
The bottom line: "Kerr County is 1,100 square miles of beautiful but complex Hill Country," Leitha said of the challenges now of finding the missing. "There are areas where cell service is spotty, of single lane bridges and low water crossings."
- "The Hill Country is not a one-size-fits-all place," he said.
