More than 80 dead as searches for survivors intensifies

A desperate search and rescue mission is ongoing in the Texas Hill Country to find 10 young campers and dozens more who are still unaccounted for.

This weekend’s devastating floods have claimed more than 80 lives.

Carl Jeter rescued a woman who was hanging onto a tree above the river after her car was washed away in floodwaters. 

“It’s a miracle that she did survive,” he said. 

Camp Mystic, located on the banks of the Guadalupe River, has 10 campers and one staff member still unaccounted for. Mystic’s owner Dick Eastland died trying to save his young campers, according to his grandson. 

Reece Zucker, a Tivy High School soccer coach and teacher, along with his wife Paula, died in the flash flood on July 4, the school said. Their two children are still missing.

“He was infectious. He was a great coach, a great teacher,” a Tivy High School coach told NBC’s Morgan Chesky about Zucker. “I’m sure he fought like hell to get his kids and his wife to safety.”

NBC Dallas-Fort Worth and Telemundo Dallas-Fort Worth have teamed up with the American Red Cross to help with disaster relief efforts.

Donations help the Red Cross in recovery efforts during disasters big and small, whenever they occur across the country. Contributions are tax-deductible to the legally permissible extent, details of which can be found here.

Kaelan Kubena was among the some 400 campers at Camp La Junta, an all-boys summer camp in central Texas at the time of the flooding.

“We looked outside and we just saw like an ocean out there,” the 11-year-old from San Diego told NBC Los Angeles.

Heavy rain kept most of the boys awake early Friday morning, he said, and later camp counselors took them to higher ground for safety when the campground began to flood.

“We saw like a whole cabin just floating down, and that’s when we knew like those things were getting actually real out there. Like we were starting to realize that this was a real natural disaster crisis,” said Kubena.

Corrigan Camp returned from Camp Mystic just two weeks ago. Shocked from the tragedy that unfolded there over the past week, she and her 9-year-old twin brother, Cannon, set up a lemonade stand yesterday in their Tanglewood neighborhood.

“One says we love Camp Mystic,” Cannon told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth about the signs they made. “The other one says all proceeds go to Camp Mystic,” said Corrigan.

The twins raised more than $5,000, selling lemonades and cookies for a dollar each, with some people skipping the treats completely and just donating money instead.

“It made me feel good because we’re donating the money to camp,” Cannon said. “I feel like a lot of people care for Camp Mystic and how damaged it is,” said Corrigan.

Since catastrophic flooding swept through central Texas, Ilda Mendoza, a Kerr County employee and resident of Hunt, has been leading the search for her missing neighbors, particularly Alicia and José Olvera, who are in their 70s.

“It’s really hard to go through the river and trying to find anything,” Mendoza, 34, who is pregnant and two weeks away from delivery, told Reuters. “The guys have fallen here and there, we’re using backhoe to shake up the trees, see if anybody stuck up there. But it’s been very difficult.”

Mendoza said the volunteers found the body of the husband on Saturday, who they believed was holding the hands of his wife when they were swept away. The search for Alicia Olvera continues with “about 40 to 50 volunteers just looking through rummage and digging up as much as we can,” she said.

“We’re just hoping people can find their loved ones and have some relief, because it’s the unknown that’s killing people,” she said. “It’s just been so sad,” she said, describing Facebook posts about the missing people.

A flood watch is in effect for portions of south-central and eastern Virginia, southern and eastern Maryland, Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. ET bulletin.

It came as Tropical Depression Chantal moves northeast across southern and eastern Virginia at near 15 miles an hour, the NHC said, bringing heavy rainfall across the portions under the flood watch.

“Storm total rainfall of 2 to 4 inches, with local amounts up to 6 inches, is expected. An elevated risk for flash flooding will continue,” it said.

Fatal floods in Texas that left thousands scrambling for safety with little warning have sparked a fresh round of scrutiny of Trump administration cuts to the National Weather Service.

At least 81 people were dead and many others were missing Sunday evening after floodwaters surged through Texas Hill Country, an area known as “flash flood alley.”

Within hours of the deluge early Friday, some Texas officials were critical of the NWS, saying forecasts underestimated the rainfall. Sunday, President Donald Trump rejected the idea of investigating whether NWS cuts had left key vacancies, and the White House said claims that NWS cuts had anything to do with the tragedy were “disgusting.”

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Emergency responders have completed more than 50 water rescues in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the town said in a bulletin early today, as tropical storm Chantal made its way through central parts of the state toward south-central Virginia.

Late yesterday, water was still flooding the streets in the town but is now beginning to reced. “There’s a waterfall where there shouldn’t be one,” a man is heard saying in a TikTok video of a flooded parking lot that was verified by NBC News.

Rescues were carried out where “floodwaters entered or threatened to enter apartment homes and condos at several locations around town,” the town said.

“Crews continue to assess damage brought by heavy rain and flash flooding late Sunday into the overnight hours,” the statement continued.

The National Hurricane Center has issued flood watches for central North Carolina through today, with rainfall of 2 to 4 inches expected.

Additional rainfall of between 2 and 4 inches, rising to 10 inches in some locations, means the National Weather Service is keeping its flood watch in place until 7 p.m. local time for San Antonio, Austin and the devastated Kerr County.

“Difficult to pinpoint exact locations where isolated heavier amounts will occur. An uptick in coverage and intensity of scattered showers and storms is possible overnight near the I-35 corridor and eastern Hill Country, developing west through the day on Monday,” the service said.

More precipitation in combination with the already saturated ground could lead to rapid runoff and make flash flooding more likely.

As ever, the authorities warn people not to drive or walk through flood waters.

Survivors are speaking out after catastrophic flash floods destroyed much of Central Texas, killing dozens of people and leaving dozens more missing. It comes as the scale of the devastation and loss comes into focus for many in the region.