Death toll in Texas rises as the waters subside and grim recovery begins

People in central Texas were observing a day of prayer yesterday for at least 69 people killed and others missing in Friday's devastating flash flooding, as a search and rescue operation for survivors began to turn into a grim exercise of recovering bodies.

- Richard Luscombe

Relatives continued an anxious wait for news of 11 girls and one camp counselor still unaccounted for from a riverside summer camp that was overwhelmed by flash flooding from the Guadalupe River, which rose 8 metres (26ft) in 45 minutes on Friday morning after torrential pre-dawn rain north of San Antonio.

At least 59 people were confirmed killed in Kerr county, many of them children, with more fatalities being reported in neighboring counties.

"We are seeing bodies recovered all over up and down," the Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice told reporters at a news briefing yesterday.

Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued, with more than 1,700 people involved in the search and rescue operation.

By yesterday morning, water levels had fallen to just 30cm-60cm higher than before the flood.

Further rain on Saturday and into yesterday morning hampered search efforts of crews using boats, helicopters and drones. The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, promised responders would remain at the scene until every individual was recovered. He said he instructed responders to assume all missing persons were still alive.