At least 43 killed, including 15 children, in Texas flash floods

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least 43 people, including 15 children, have died in flooding in Kerr County in the US state of Texas, an official told reporters at a news conference Saturday.

Sheriff Larry Leitha said 15 of the victims were children. He noted that five children and 12 adults remain unidentified.

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice reported that search and rescue efforts remain the top priority in central Texas, as crews are searching for the missing along the Guadalupe River, according to CNN.

“We’re really focused on life safety.

“Our primary focus is on search and rescue of every single person involved, and we’ll continue through the night to make sure that happens," Rice noted.

Twenty-seven children from Camp Mystic are missing, he said, as rescue operations continue following a surge of the Guadalupe River that swept through campsites Friday.

“We’ve been rescuing people out of these camps by the hundreds all day,” said Rice.

The flooding, which has claimed at least 27 lives, began late Thursday and lasted into the early hours of Friday, as heavy rains engulfed the Guadalupe River, pushing it to a crest of more than 39 feet (11.8 meters), surpassing the region's second-largest modern flood in 1987.