59, including 21 children, dead in Texas flooding; 850 rescued so far

The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached 59 on Sunday, including 21 children, law enforcement said, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day.

Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, the epicenter of the flooding, said 11 girls and a counsellor remained missing from a camp near the Guadalupe River, which broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.

Leitha said there were 18 adults and four children still pending identification. He did not say if those 22 individuals were included in the death count of 59.

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. It was unclear exactly how many people in the area were still missing.

"Everyone in the community is hurting," Leitha told reporters.

Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.

President Donald Trump and his administration have overseen thousands of job cuts from the Weather Service's parent agency, the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA director Rick Spinrad.

He 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 Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, told CNN's 'State of the Union' that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous.

"When you have flash flooding, there's a risk that if you don't have the personnel to do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way, it could lead to tragedy," Castro said.

MORE RAIN

More rain was expected in the area on Sunday. The Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County until 1 pm local time.

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, told a press conference on Saturday he had asked Trump to sign a disaster declaration, which would unlock federal aid for those affected. Noem said Trump would honour that request.

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.

The 11 missing girls and the counsellor were from the Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls' camp, which had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood.

A day after the disaster struck, the camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83 m) from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.

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