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At least 27 people have died and more than 20 children are missing after a catastrophic flood from Blic in Texas.
The Guadalupe River, which passes through the hilly land in central southern Texas, increased by 26 meters (8 meters) in just 45 minutes in the early morning on Friday, according to officials, shooting its shores and damage roads and property.
On Saturday, rescuers continued to look for more than 20 missing children from the summer camp attended. The flood affected while people across the United States gathered to celebrate Independence Day.
“The rescue teams worked all night long and will continue until we find all our citizens,” the police department of City Kerville said on Facebook on Saturday.
Search and rescue operations include helicopters, drones, boats and hundreds of staff, officials say, but are hampered by limited access to some areas, especially where roads are washed.
President Donald Trump said the floods and deaths were “terrible” and “shocking” because he promised federal support.
Officials in Kerr County, northwest of San Antonio, said extreme rainfalls were not foreseen, adding that there was no warning system. “We had no reason to believe that this would be something similar to what happened here,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the highest local elected official.
But the National Weather Service said it had issued a flood watch on Thursday, with the first flooding of Blic flooding for Kerr County early Friday morning. On Saturday, he warned that it remains a risk of Blic flooding in the area.
Hannah Klock, a professor of hydrology at the UK University, said the fall “seems to be well predicted by many forecasters around the world, a few hours in advance”.
“It is not good enough for the authorities to say they were unaware that floods were coming. The warnings were available, but the message just didn’t break through,” she said.
Trump’s administration has described hundreds of jobs in the National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration and its national weather service with critics claiming moves will disrupt the country’s ability to produce life -saving forecasts.
Scientists have warned that climate change increases the risk of fatal storms and heavy rainfall because warmer air has more moisture. Flash flood-fast-stretching areas with low-level-killing more than 200 people In Valencia In Spain last year.
Bill McGuier, Professor Emiritus on Geophysical and Climate Dangers at the University College of London, said that “tragic events in Texas are exactly what we expected in our warmer, climate -changing world.”
“There has been an explosion in extreme weather in recent years, including fatal floods caused by slow movement, wet, storm, emitting exceptional amounts of rain over small areas in a short time,” he said.
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