By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities have deployed hundreds of emergency workers to search for people missing in central Texas, after flash flooding in which 51 people were killed, including 15 children.
The worst affected area is Kerr County, where 43 people have died and where 27 girls remain missing from a Christian youth camp, called Camp Mystic, located along the River Guadalupe.
It is a large all-girls’ Christian summer camp located along the banks of the Guadalupe River, where much of the rescue effort has been focused.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told the BBC’s Radio 4 PM programme that many of the 27 missing girls were “under the age of 12”.
Pictures from their camp show it in disarray, with blankets, mattresses, teddy bears and other belongings covered in mud.
Many were asleep when the river rose more than 26ft (8m) in less than an hour in the early hours of Friday.
In an email to parents of the roughly 750 campers, Camp Mystic said that if they had not been contacted directly, their child had been accounted for.
More details of those who died have started to emerge – some were as young as eight. It has also been confirmed sisters Blair and Brooke Harber, who were 13 and 11, are among the dead.
“The work continues, and will continue, until everyone is found,” Larry Leitha, the sheriff of Kerr County, assured.
People have also been confirmed dead in other parts of the state, including Travis County and Tom Green County.
About 850 people have been rescued so far.
At a news conference on Saturday afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he had signed an expanded disaster declaration to boost search efforts.
He said officials would be relentless in ensuring they locate “every single person who’s been a victim of this event”, adding that “we will stop when the job is completed”.
US President Donald Trump said his administration was working closely with local authorities to respond to the emergency.
Forecasters have warned that central Texas may see more flooding this weekend.
Lorena Guillen, whose home and restaurant were destroyed, had 28 holidaymakers’ cars staying on her land near the river.
She said she heard screams from a family of five.
“They were getting washed away,” Guillen said. “They were clinging on trees to be rescued. But the rescuers couldn’t get to them.”
