With a somber purpose, search teams swept throughout Texas Hill County on Wednesday morning in an attempt to find the dozens of individuals who have gone missing due to the terrible floods that hit the area about a week ago and killed at least 111 people.
Late Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott announced that at least 173 people were still unaccounted for, marking the first time that state authorities have determined the potential final death toll. In Kerr County, which saw the worst floods and where rescuers have not discovered any survivors since Friday, 161 individuals are among the unaccounted missing.
State officials did not respond to questions on Tuesday night on the missing, and it is unclear how the list was put together. However, the governor’s figure, which significantly exceeded the number of missing persons previously recognized by local officials, indicated that the death toll would more than quadruple.
At a news conference, Mr. Abbott stated that the main task at hand is still finding everyone impacted by the flood. He went on to say, “We will not stop until we identify and recover every single body.”
The floods were one of the deadliest natural catastrophes in the United States for children in a number of decades, with at least 30 children among the deceased. 27 kids and staff members were killed at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for females, and many of the young victims are from that camp. As of Tuesday night, the remains of five campers and a 19-year-old counselor were still missing.
Republican leaders have persisted in shifting blame for the catastrophe as the depth of the floods’ destruction became more apparent, while concerns have increased regarding the role of federal forecaster vacancies and a lack of state and local funding for flood management and warning systems.
When questioned about inquiries into accountability, Mr. Abbott referred to that as the “word choice of losers” and likened disaster response to football: He claimed that the losing teams try to assign blame, while the winning teams reply, “We got this.”
Kerr County was home to at least 87 of the flood victims. Travis County had seven fatalities, Kendall County had eight, Burnet County had five, Williamson County had three, and Tom Green County had one.A counselor, camp directors, kids of all ages, and a respected teacher are among those who have passed away.
