Timelapse footage shows the full extent of the Texas flash storm’s devastation, which has resulted in at least 51 fatalities and disorganized search teams for missing girls.
As the nation celebrated the Fourth of July, fatal flooding hit residents outside of Kerrville.
A flash flood swept across Kerr County, Texas, as the Guadalupe River surged past its breaking point in a matter of minutes.
At least 51 fatalities, including 15 children, have been reported, according to NBC News.
Rescuers are looking for up to 20 children who were part of the 750 girls who spent the entire day at the water-soaked Camp Mystic, a summer camp outside of Kerrville.
After the floodwaters left the camp without WiFi, water, or electricity, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick explained that the missing children are not necessarily “lost,” saying instead that “they could be out of communication.”
While many parents are anxiously wondering where their children are, the mother of nine-year-old Camp Mystic member Janie Hunt told CNN that her daughter has died as a result of the flooding.
On July 5, the Kerrville Police Department issued an update stating that rescue personnel would “continue until we find all our citizens.”
They also posted on Facebook, “We have hundreds of first responders here with resources from all over the state to help us.” “Those who are missing and their loved ones are still on our minds. They are and will continue to be our main focus.
As the rest of the world watches, many people might find it hard to understand how rapidly the floods spread throughout the area.
But a timelapse video posted to Twitter shows the entire extent of the deadly waters, which in about seven minutes changed from a clear path to a swamp.
A group of people can be seen in the video approaching a dip in the road as the floods suddenly rush past, turning the once-clear path into a deadly flash flood.
In the comments, many others conveyed shock and sorrow.
“Yeah, that’s getting way too familiar of a scene,” someone said. What is happening? Another person commented, “That’s frightening! It makes sense why people were unable to leave in time. However, why weren’t they alerted?
Another person commented, “Who could have foreseen this? Regardless of NOAA alerts Horrible.
Because of the continuous rains, the National Weather Service (NWS) has now issued more flood warnings for residents and businesses in Lone Star State.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, signed an extended emergency declaration and requested federal help to address the flooding.
Many have questioned how the tragedy could have happened so quickly; according to Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, such a disaster was not expected.
To explain why it happened, Kerrville’s city manager, Dalton Rice, told the media, “When you look at the headwaters of the Guadalupe… there’s a north and a south fork.”
“Under normal circumstances, if you can call it that, you will encounter water in one of those locations since 1987, and those two forks will merge to form the Guadalupe, which passes through Kerrville.”
“This rain event sat on top of that and dumped more rain on both of those forks than was forecast,” Rice added.
“It was around seven feet on the south fork when we received the report, and it rose to 29 feet in a few minutes, all of which converged at Guadalupe.”
