Harrowing stories of rescue emerge from Texas floods as crews search for over 160 reported missing

HUNT Texas AP In the frantic hours after a wall of water engulfed camps and homes in Texas a police officer who was trapped himself spotted dozens of people stranded on roofs and waded out to bring them to safety a fellow officer mentioned Wednesday Another off-duty officer tied a garden hose around his waist so he could reach two people clinging to a tree above swirling floodwaters Kerrville officer Jonathan Lamb stated describing another harrowing rescue This tragedy as horrific as it is could have been so much worse Lamb narrated a news conference crediting first responders and assistants with saving lives during the flash floods on the July Fourth holiday More than people still are supposed to be missing and at least have died in the floods that laid waste to the Hill Country region of Texas The large number of missing suggests that the full extent of the catastrophe is still unclear five days after the calamity The floods are now the deadliest from inland flooding in the U S since when Colorado s Big Thompson Canyon flooded killing people revealed Bob Henson a meteorologist with Yale Environment Connections Crews used backhoes and their bare hands Wednesday to dig through piles of debris that stretched for miles along the Guadalupe River in the search of the missing We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for Gov Greg Abbott informed a news conference Tuesday Know this also There very likely could be more added to that list Constituents leaders in the area have come under repeated criticism amid questions about why widespread warnings were not sounded and more preparations were not made ahead of the flooding Those questions are going to be answered Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha revealed I believe those questions need to be answered to the families of the loved ones to the populace But he mentioned the priority for now is recovering casualties We re not running We re not going to hide from anything the sheriff revealed Local leaders have talked for years about the need for a flood warning system but concerns about funding and a lack of help from the federal executive nixed a proposal to put up sirens Raymond Howard a city council member in Ingram declared it was unfathomable that county agents did not act This is lives This is families he disclosed This is heartbreaking Number of missing has soared A day a earlier the governor communicated that about people have been released missing in Kerr County where searchers already have identified more than bodies Administrators have been seeking more information about those who were in the Hill Country a popular tourist destination during the holiday weekend but did not register at a camp or a hotel and may have been in the area without a great number of people knowing Abbott noted The riverbanks and hills of Kerr County are filled with vacation cabins youth camps and campgrounds including Camp Mystic the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least campers and counselors died Officers disclosed five campers and one counselor have still not been determined Just two days before the flooding Texas inspectors signed off on the camp s emergency planning But five years of inspection reports circulated to The Associated Press did not provide any details about how campers would be evacuated Challenging search for the dead With almost no hope of finding anyone alive search crews and supporters say they are focused on bringing the families of the missing particular closure Crews fanned out in air boats helicopters and on horseback They used excavators and their hands going through layer by layer with search dogs sniffing for any sign of buried bodies They looked in trees and in the mounds below their feet They searched inside crumpled pickup trucks and cars painting them with a large X much like those marked on homes after a hurricane How long the search will continue was impossible to predict given the number of people unaccounted for and the miles to cover Shannon Ament wore knee-high rubber boots and black gloves as she rummaged through debris in front of her rental property in Kerr County A high school soccer coach is one of the multiple people she knows who are still missing We need assistance I m not going to say thoughts and prayers because I m sick of that she stated We don t need to be blamed for who voted for who This was a freak of nature a freak event Trump plans to survey damage Friday President Donald Trump has pledged to provide whatever relief Texas necessities to recover He plans to visit the state Friday Polls taken before the floods show Americans largely believe the federal executive should play a major role in preparing for and responding to natural disasters Catastrophic flooding is becoming a growing worry On Tuesday a deluge in New Mexico triggered flash floods that killed three people Although it s arduous to attribute a single weather event to environment change experts say a warming atmosphere and oceans make these type of storms more likely