UNITED STATES
In Texas, 13 dead and many missing in floods
The Texan authorities are looking for around twenty children who participated in a summer camp, in Kerr County.
The level of the Guadalupe river rose suddenly during the night, from 2 meters to more than 9 meters.
Getty Images via AFP
Devastating floods, caused by torrential rains, left at least 13 dead, including children, and around twenty missing in Texas in the southern United States, local authorities announced on Friday.
“For the moment, we have counted 13 deaths,” said Larry Leitha, the sheriff of Kerr, located in central Texas. There will probably be “more” victims “when it is all over,” added the official.
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The deputy governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, had previously reported an assessment of six to ten dead, including children, as well as twenty missing.
A third of annual precipitation
“We are without news of around twenty” children out of the 750 who participated in a summer camp for girls, said Dan Patrick at a press conference. “This does not mean that they are among the victims, they could be in a tree or without communication,” he added.
The deputy governor read in front of the press a message from the director of the summer camp saying that he had undergone “floods of a catastrophic level” and have “neither electricity, nor water, nor Wi-Fi”.
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According to the authorities, the level of the Guadalupe river, which crosses the area, rose approximately eight meters in 45 minutes in which it fell “nearly 300 millimeters/hour of rain, a third of the average annual precipitation of the county. Videos broadcast on social networks show houses and trees carried away by the flood.
“The most dangerous river valley”
An official of the County of Kerr, Rob Kelly, underlined the sudden nature of these floods which occurred around 4:00 am in this region however used to this type of phenomena.
“We have floods all the time. It is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, “he said. But “we had no reason to believe that it was going to be something like what happened”.
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The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, shared on X a video showing the rescue of a refugee person at the top of a tree by a rescuer suspended from a helicopter, above tumultuous waters.
“Air rescue missions like this are carried out 24 hours a day. We will not stop until everyone has been found,” said Greg Abbott. About 500 rescuers and 14 helicopters were deployed, while the Texas National Guard and the United States Coast Guard sent reinforcements.
Other precipitation expected
“The rain has calmed down, but we know that another wave is coming to,” warned the director of public security in Texas, Freeman Martin, stressing that precipitation was also expected in the areas of San Antonio and Austin.
According to the American ocean and atmospheric observation agency (NOAA), the level of the Guadalupe river rose suddenly during the night, from 2 meters to more than 9 meters, after precipitation.
The weather services have issued a flood alert for the County Center-South Center, calling on the inhabitants to avoid travel and those living near the Guadalupe river to go “to areas in height”.
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