KERRVILLE, TXAt least 120 individuals lost their lives in the devastating flash floods that occurred during the July Fourth holiday, and many more are still missing. On Wednesday night, hundreds of people gathered for a worship service at a high school stadium in Texas.
Wyatt Wentrcek, a local youth minister, told the audience in the bleachers of Tivy Antler Stadium in Kerrville, “Tragedy hit our communities literally in the dark.” The middle of the night.
persons in the audience clung to each other and wiped away tears as they prayed for the victims and the more than 160 persons who are still thought to be missing in Kerrville and hard-hit Kerr County.
Many participants donned green ribbons commemorating Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp in Kerr County where at least 27 campers and counselors perished, or blue shirts bearing the school’s motto, Tivy Fight Never Die. Five campers and one counselor are still missing, according to officials.
They purposefully assembled at a location where they had celebrated wins and suffered losses on the field, Ricky Pruitt of the Kerrville Church of Christ explained to the audience.
“Compared to all those nights, tonight is really different,” he remarked.
The ceremony took place while volunteers and search teams kept searching for the missing for miles along the Guadalupe River.
While search dogs probed for any indication of buried victims, personnel in air boats, helicopters, and on horseback searched beneath trees and mounds. Searchers said they were focusing on providing some closure to the relatives of the missing, as there was little chance of finding anyone alive.
According to Bob Henson, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections, the floods are now the deadliest inland flooding events in the United States since 1976, when 144 people were killed when Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon flooded.
Governor Greg Abbott has stated that authorities are looking for additional information regarding people who spent the holiday weekend in the Hill Country, a well-known tourist destination, but did not register at a hotel or tent and might have been in the area without many people knowing.
Questions concerning the timeframe of what transpired, why widespread warnings were not sent, and why more preparations were not taken have led to repeated condemnation of local public leaders.
According to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha, such inquiries will be addressed, but for now, the victims’ recovery is the main priority.
Abbott summoned a special session of the Legislature to address other issues beginning July 21. During the session, the governor urged lawmakers to approve new flood warning systems and improve emergency communications in flood-prone areas around the state. Additionally, Abbott urged Congress to fund emergency and recovery activities following the storms.
Abbott stated in a statement, “We need to make sure that there is better preparation for such events in the future.”
The necessity of a flood warning system has been discussed by local officials for years, but opportunities to install sirens were lost due to financial and noise issues.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Texas on Friday and has promised to provide whatever aid the state needs to recover.
According to pre-flood polls, most Americans think that the federal government should be heavily involved in both preparing for and responding to natural disasters.
A increasing concern is catastrophic flooding. Three people were killed Tuesday by flash floods caused by adeluge in New Mexico.
Experts suggest that a warming atmosphere and oceans increase the likelihood of these kinds of storms, even though it is challenging to link a single weather event to climate change.
Following Wednesday’s celebration in Kerrville, some students organized prayer circles as families and kids mixed on the field. Also available to meet with clients were licensed therapists and counselors.
A warning system with a siren would be useful, according to Andrew Brown, who attended the memorial in memory of a Tivy High School soccer coach who perished in the floodwaters.
There are definitely things that could have been different, and there will undoubtedly be more in the future,” he remarked.
David Garza claimed that in order to support those impacted by the floods, he drove an hour and a half to the stadium.
Garza remarked, “I’m from here, and I was here during the 78 and 87 floods.” All I wanted to do was participate in this.
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This report was written by Associated Press writers John Hanna of Topeka, Kansas; Jim Vertuno of Austin, Texas; and John Seewer of Toledo, Ohio.
