(Hunt, Texas) The balance sheet of the floods in Texas, in the south of the United States, now approaches the 60 dead, including 21 children, and should still rise, local authorities announced on Sunday. Another 11 children are missing.
“We have lost other people. We are now at 59, “said state deputy governor Dan Patrick, on Fox News, saying to expect” what it increases “.
Among the 750 children participating in a Christian summer camp for girls on the banks of the Guadalupe river, 27 are still missing, said the deputy governor.
“Our message to the parents of the 27 missing children is that we do not give up research” to find them, alive or dead, he assured, insisting on the importance of believing in “miracles”.
These sudden floods were caused by torrential rains in the center of the state on Friday, the day of the American national holiday, which raised the waters of the Guadalupe of eight meters in just 45 minutes. It suddenly fell nearly 300 millimeters/rain, a third of the average annual precipitation.
Photo Julio Cortez, Associated Press
Rescuers are carrying out research on the field of the Mystic camp, along the banks of the Guadalupe river
On the camp site, water has grown up, revealing a devastation landscape, with dozens of stranded cars, certain stuck in trees, and snow vegetation, AFP journalists found.
Chaos reigns inside the chalets that welcomed the girls. The ground covered with mud and broken windows testify to the violence of the waves.
Pope’s condolences
About 500 rescuers and 14 helicopters were deployed, while the Texas National Guard and the Coast Guard sent reinforcements.
The American pope Léon XIV expressed his “sincere condolences on Sunday to all the families who lost dear beings, in particular their daughters who were in a summer camp during the tragedy”, in a declaration in English at the end of the prayer of the Angelus.
Meteorological services maintained their surfaced flood alert on Sunday until 7 p.m. locals.
“Additional precipitation of 50 to 100 millimeters are possible, with isolated pockets in the area approaching 250 millimeters. It is very difficult to predict exactly where the big rains will occur in this case, ”according to the most recent meteorological bulletin.
Photo Ronaldo Schemidt, agency France-Presse
A volunteer is looking for missing people.
Sudden floods, caused by torrential rains that the dry soil cannot absorb, are not uncommon. But according to the scientific community, climate change caused by human activity has made meteorological events more frequent and more intense such as floods, droughts and heat waves.
In mid-June, 13 people had perished due to floods in San Antonio, not far from the area affected on Friday, following torrential rains.
