AILSA CHANG, HOST:
And now to Texas. At least 13 people are dead, and more than 20 girls are missing from a summer camp in the Texas Hill Country due to severe flooding. The Guadalupe River rose quickly after a foot of rain fell early this morning in some areas. Search and rescue efforts are underway for the missing girls. Texas Public Radio's Jack Morgan joins us now with the latest. Hi, Jack.
JACK MORGAN, BYLINE: Hi.
CHANG: So what more can you tell us about what happened today?
MORGAN: Well, the city of Kerrville is about an hour and a half northwest of San Antonio. It's a river town with the Guadalupe River running right through it. At a press conference today, it was called the most dangerous river valley in the U.S. But the whole area was caught off guard with how much rain came down so quickly. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said at a press conference today that the river rose quickly after a foot of rain fell in some spots.
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DAN PATRICK: That river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. It was a dry bed, had been dry. There wasn't a lot to absorb it. It went down the rocks, and it was a destructive flood.
MORGAN: Now, this area of Texas is called the Hill Country. There's four- or five-hundred-foot limestone cliffs all around. The Guadalupe River runs through it, and there are dozens of summer camps in the area. Camp Mystic is the camp where the girls are missing. It is about 30 miles west of Kerrville. Those large limestone hillsides, they don't absorb much rain before they start running off.
CHANG: Yeah.
MORGAN: Now, at a press conference earlier today, local officials were asked why they didn't have a warning system sounding the alarm last night. And they say they didn't have such a system and were just caught off guard. Now, this was really a historic flood. High water levels were higher than a 1987 flood near there that killed 10 people.
CHANG: And can you give us more details about the search and rescue efforts that are happening right now?
MORGAN: Yeah. Officials there tell us there's about 500 boots on the ground and 14 helicopters searching the skies. I saw a couple of those pontoon-style boats going at full speed up the Guadalupe, looking for people stranded in trees. First responders set up three separate points where people who had lost or damaged homes - to come for meals and for help.
CHANG: And when you were in Kerrville earlier today, can you just tell us a little bit about what you personally saw?
MORGAN: I saw a lot of first responders, a lot of sheriffs and policemen and state troopers. I also saw the Guadalupe a lot wider than I ever have. It's easily a quarter mile wide at places where it was 150 feet wide normally. I mean, Kerrville's the largest town in the area, and that's why the rescue efforts are being managed there in Kerrville.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, Jack, what do you think this community can expect in the coming hours and overnight tonight?
MORGAN: Well, of course, the search for 20 missing girls is a pretty grim thing, but the overnight forecast is actually an improvement. There's about a 15% chance of rain, and the radar suggests the rain could be ending for now. The sheriff said the rescue efforts will continue 24 hours. And there could be more rain tomorrow, but we'll see. Now, downstream communities have been urged to evacuate tonight, through the morning, as the river will rise there in the coming hours. Dan Patrick told people to stay away from Kerrville as this is an active search and rescue scene. He especially warned people not to fly drones as it could interfere with that effort. To that end, with a search for the missing, the officials hope that some were stranded and not able to call for help. And they'll continue on that massive search. Governor Greg Abbott is expected to hold a press conference at 9 o'clock Central time to provide an update on the situation.
CHANG: That is Jack Morgan from Texas Public Radio. Thank you so much, Jack.
MORGAN: Thank you, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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