Texas Flash Flood Death Toll Reaches 109 People, Many Of Them Children

JAKARTA - The death toll from the July 4 flash floods that hit large parts of central Texas Hill Country, Texas, United States increased on Tuesday to at least 109 people, many of whom were children, while the search team continued to move among piles of mud-covered debris to search for dozens of people who were still missing.

According to data released by Governor Gregg Abbott, authorities are looking for more than 180 people whose fate remains unknown four days after one of the deadliest flood events in the US in decades.

Most of the deaths and search for additional casualties were concentrated in Kerr County and the capital Kerrville, a city of 25,000 people turning into a disaster zone when heavy rains hit the area early Friday, flooded the Caadalupe River basin.

The bodies of 94 flood victims, about a third of children, have been found in Kerr County as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in an afternoon press conference after visiting the area by air.

The death toll in Kerr County included 27 camp participants and counselors from Camp Mystic, a special summer resting place for a Christian woman nearly a century old on the banks of the Guadalupe River near the town of Hunt. Campaign director also died.

Five girls and camp counselors have yet to be found on Tuesday, said Governor Abbott, along with another child who is not linked to the camp.

As of Tuesday, 15 other flood-related casualties have been confirmed in a section of the Texas Hill Country known as the "airway of flash floods," the governor said, bringing the total death toll to 109.

Sementara, laporan dari sheriff dan media setempat menyebut jumlah korban tewas akibat banjir di luar Kerr County mencapai 22.

However, authorities said they were preparing to face the possibility of the death toll rising as floodwaters receded and the search for other victims intensified.

Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies have compiled a list of 161 people who are "known to be missing" in Kerr County alone, Governor Abbott said.

The list is matched with those who may not be able to be contacted by loved ones or neighbors because they are on vacation or out of town, according to the governor.

He said 12 other people were missing elsewhere in the entire flood zone, a large northwestern area of San Antonio.

"We need to find everyone who is missing. That's the number one task," said Governor Abbott.

Hampered by regular thunderstorms and rain, rescue teams from federal agencies, neighboring states, and Mexico have joined local efforts to search for missing victims, although hopes to find more survivors have faded over time. The last victim found alive in Kerr County was last Friday.

"This work is very dangerous and time-consuming," Lieutenant Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Gameals told a news conference.

"This is a dirty job. The water is still there," he said.

Earlier, more than 30 cm of rain fell in the area in less than an hour before dawn last Friday, sending flash floods that were pouring down the Caadalupe River, killing dozens of people, leaving piles of debris, fallen trees and overturned vehicles.

Public officials have faced days of questions about whether they could tell residents in flood-prone areas early.

The state's disaster management warned last Thursday that a day before the disaster, some areas in Texas were facing the threat of flash floods, based on the National Weather Agency forecast.

However, twice as much rain as expected fell in two branches of the Guadalupe River just upstream of the branch where they met, causing all the water to flow rapidly into a single river channel that divides Kerrville, said City Manager Dalton Rice.

Rice said the results were unexpected and occurred within two hours, so the available time was too little to carry out mass evacuations as a precaution without the risk of endangering more people.

Para ilmuwan mengatakan banjir ekstrem semakin sering terjadi karena perubahan iklim menciptakan pola cuaca yang lebih hangat dan basah di Texas serta wilayah lain di Amerika Serikat.

At a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha dismissed questions about the emergency operations and preparedness of the area and declined to say who was responsible for monitoring weather warnings and issuing flood warnings or evacuation orders.