Austin [Texas], July 7: The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 69 on Sunday, including at least 21 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, said the death toll in Kerr county, the epicenter of the flooding, had reached 59, while another 10 had died elsewhere in Texas and 41 remained missing.
Among the most devastating impacts of the flooding occurred at Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, where 11 girls and a counselor are still missing.
The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, said earlier that 21 children have died in the flooding.
Officials speaking at the press conference on Sunday afternoon said the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green county, five in Travis county and one in Williamson county.
Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain across the region, about 85 miles (140 km) northwest of San Antonio.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and advisories for central Texas that were to last until 4:15 p.m. local time (2115 GMT) as rains fell, potentially complicating rescue efforts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and planes are helping the search and rescue efforts, the department said.
Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.
Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.
Trump's administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.
Spinrad said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency's ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, said a "moderate" flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.
Joaquin Castro, a Democratic U.S. congressman from Texas, told CNN's "State of the Union" program that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
