Texas flooding latest: 43 dead, including 15 children, as search for some two dozen girls continues – as it happened

Girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River, are still missing, says city manager. This blog is now closed.

This concludes our live coverage of the deadly flash flooding in the Hill Country region of Texas, with the death toll in Kerr county now at 43, including 15 children, and at least 27 girls from a summer camp still missing. As the rescue and recovery effort continues, we will update our main news report on the disaster. Here are the day’s developments:

• At least 43 people have died in the floods in Texas, according to the Kerr county officials. The dead include 28 adults and 15 children, according to the latest numbers from Saturday evening. There are still 27 girls missing from a Christian summer camp. Of the bodies recovered so far, 12 adults and five children were still unidentified as of 5.30pm local time.

• The director of a popular Texas summer camp, located north-west of San Antonio, was among those killed in Friday’s floods, the camp said in a post on Facebook. Jane Ragsdale, the longtime director of the Heart O’ the Hills camp, was on site when the flood hit.

• A young woman was dramatically rescued after she was carried 12 miles down the Guadalupe River by raging flood waters, and later pictured clinging to branches of a tree. The woman – who has not been identified publicly – was rescued, News 4 San Antonio reported.

• Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy. Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!”

• One 13-year-old girl who was evacuated by helicopter after being woken in the middle of the night said the “camp was completely destroyed”.

• Officials have said the floods were not predicted by forecasts and that the river rose by 26ft (8 meters) in just 45 minutes. A local weather forecaster disputed that and said that warnings were issued hours before the disaster.

• Pictures from the ground show widespread destruction to homes, vehicles and trees as well as showing ongoing rescue efforts.

Cover photo:  Rescue workers along the Guadalupe River in the wake of flooding event in Kerrville, Texas. Photograph: San Antonio Express-News/Express-News/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock