Number Of Missing Texas Flood Victims Jumps To Over 160, Gov. Abbott Says

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott provided another tragic update on the catastrophic floods on Tuesday, saying that 161 people remain missing in Kerr County, Texas, while another 12 people are still missing in other parts of the state.

Earlier on Tuesday, reports had the number of those missing at 40, but the governor’s latest update reveals an even grimmer situation after the state was devastated by the floods that hit over the July Fourth holiday. The death toll from the flooding across the state reached 109 on Monday, including dozens of children.

“To put this into perspective … there are far more fatalities than there were in Hurricane Harvey. That’s how catastrophic this is,” Abbott said, giving an update from Hunt, Texas, in Kerr County.

“Know this: We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for,” he added. “Know this also: There very likely could be more added to that list.”

Five young girls and one counselor remain missing from Camp Mystic, the Christian girls’ camp that took the brunt of the flooding when the Guadalupe River in Central Texas rose more than 30 feet in under an hour in some spots. Camp Mystic said on Monday that the death toll of campers and counselors had risen to 27.

Emergency responders have rescued at least 850 people. One United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer, Scott Ruskan, is credited with saving 165 people, most of them children, alone.

As more days go by in the rescue operation, however, hope for finding anyone alive fades into dread that any bodies found will only add to the already-large death toll.

“The primary job right now continues to be locating everybody who was affected by this flood,” Abbott said.

Flood victims include children such as 8-year-olds, Renee Smajstrla and Eloise Peck, who were attending Camp Mystic, and 64-year-old Sherry Richardson, whose cabin in Liberty Hill, Texas, was swept away on Saturday morning. The bodies of sisters Blaire and Brooke Harber were found 15 miles from where the flood waters washed them away from a cabin near the river, according to the Houston Chronicle. Blair and Brooke, ages 11 and 13, were found clinging to each other while holding rosaries, their aunt said.