'People Need to Know Today Will Be a Hard Day'

Scores of rescuers were searching desperately Saturday for children from a girls' camp and many others who were still missing after a wall of water rushed down a river in the Texas Hill Country during a powerful storm. Official said Saturday that the death toll had risen to 27, including nine children, the AP reports. Some 27 people were missing from Camp Mystic, Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice said at a press conference Saturday. An unknown number of people at other locations were still unaccounted for. "We do not have an accurate count, and we don't even want to begin to estimate at this time," Rice said, per CNN. "People need to know today will be a hard day," said Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr.

• More than 1,000 rescuers were on the ground. Rescue teams, helicopters, and drones were being used, with some people being plucked from trees. US Coast Guard helicopters were flying in to assist.

• There were more than 700 children at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls, when the flood hit. The owner and director of another all-girls camp, Heart O' the Hills, died in the flooding, the Houston Chronicle reports. The camp was not in session at the time, but Jane Ragsdale and other staff members were at the site. The camp said it was "mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful."
• The destructive fast-moving waters along the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes before dawn Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as more heavy rains were expected Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect for parts of central Texas.
• Private forecasting company AccuWeather said it and the National Weather Service sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation. "These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety," AccuWeather said in a statement that called the Texas Hill Country one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the US because of its terrain and many water crossings."
• Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors but that he had received no warning on his phone. "We got no emergency alert. There was nothing," Stone said. Then, "a pitch black wall of death."
• "The Trump Administration is working with State and Local Officials on the ground in Texas in response to the tragic flooding that took place yesterday," President Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly. Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy."