Hundreds of Americans were caught in floods in Texas on Thursday night into Friday. They experienced frightening moments. “I had to tell my grandson that everything would be alright, but inside I was terrified.”
Rescuers are still searching for missing people after the water level of the Guadalupe River rose extremely quickly. At least 51 people have died and at least 27 girls who were at summer camp are missing. It is unknown how many people in total are still missing.
The authorities do not know exactly how many people were around the river. The valley is a popular vacation spot during the American Independence Day, which was celebrated on Friday. There are dozens of campsites and holiday parks around the river. At least 850 people have been rescued.
The campers experienced anxious moments. “Our campsite was completely destroyed,” a thirteen-year-old girl told AP. “A helicopter landed and took people away. It was very scary.”
Indescribably loud noises from the rain
People also found themselves in precarious situations in homes around the river. Tonia Fucci was visiting her grandmother in the town of Comfort, on the banks of the flooded Guadelupe River.
She was awakened early by the sound of heavy rain, she tells news agency Reuters. “It is indescribable how loud the noises were,” she says. “It turned out to be the gigantic cypress trees that the river was carrying along. I had never seen this before. You immediately knew it was a tragedy.”
Fucci saw that the access road to the house was flooded with mud. It came up above the wheels of the cars that were in the garage. She has little hope that anyone will be found alive after the natural violence she saw. “There is no way people could have survived the speed of the water.”
Clinging to a tree for an hour
Erin Burgess was also awakened in the middle of the night by the thunder and rain, about 43 kilometers away in the town of Ingram. Twenty minutes later, the water flowed into her house, she tells AP. Burgess drifted with her son to a tree, to which they clung for at least an hour to avoid being swept away by the water.
In the same town, Barry Adelman pushed his whole family towards the attic of his house, including his 94-year-old grandmother and nine-year-old grandson. “I had to tell him that everything would be alright, but inside I was terrified.”
Residents of the Texas Hill Country region have not just given it the nickname flash flood alley. The hills there are steep and the ground absorbs little water. When the water level rises, the creeks quickly overflow. When the water from those creeks comes together in a river, it can cause a huge mass of water that takes everything in its path.
Complaints about poor preparations
Meanwhile, there is much discussion in the state of Texas about the preparations for the floods. Residents say they were not warned in time for the bad weather.
The National Weather Service had already issued a warning for flood danger on Thursday afternoon, but it was not until early on Thursday night into Friday that it became clear that the rainfall was more extreme than predicted. The first warning for a “life-threatening storm surge” was given at 1:14 a.m. The water level of the Guadalupe River rose eight meters within a few hours at night, writes AP.
At the local level, too little action would have been taken, meteorologists say. Local authorities say they did not expect the rain to be so heavy, compared to the average monthly amount that falls. “We know it’s raining, we know the river is rising,” said the highest elected official of Kerr County. “But nobody saw this coming.”