Rescuers search for missing children as Texas flash flood death toll rises to 24

Rescuers were desperately searching for at least 20 girls missing from a riverside summer camp, officials said on July 4, after torrential rain caused a catastrophic flash flood that killed at least 24 people as it swept through south-central Texas.

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KERVILLE, Texas — Rescuers were desperately searching for at least 20 girls missing from a riverside summer camp, officials said on July 4, after torrential rain caused a catastrophic flash flood that killed at least 24 people as it swept through south-central Texas.

"At this point, we are at about 24 fatalities," Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told an evening press conference as rescue teams scrambled to locate stranded residents in the region north-west of the city of San Antonio.

Texas Lieutenant-Governor Dan Patrick said at a previous news conference that some of the dead were children.

The county sheriff said there were "kids that are still missing," adding that between 23 and 25 people were unaccounted for.

Lt.-Gov Patrick had previously said "about 23" girls attending a summer camp in the flooded Kerr County were missing.

They were part of a group of around 750 children at Camp Mystic, a girls' summer camp along the banks of the Guadalupe River, which rose 8m in 45 minutes with heavy rainfall overnight.

"That does not mean they have been lost, they could be in a tree, they could be out of communication," Lt.-Gov Patrick said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was signing a disaster declaration to boost resources in counties in the region.