KERR COUNTY, Texas - Search and rescue efforts are expected to continue through the night in Central Texas after devastating flash flooding on Friday morning.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration for 15 counties in Texas affected by the floods.
Local law enforcement said they have confirmed 24 fatalities in Kerr County in connection to the flooding and one in Kendall County.
Several others are still missing, but officials say they could not give an estimate of the total number believed to be missing.
Officials did say 23 to 25 campers from Camp Mystic, along the Guadalupe River, are believed to be missing. That includes some young girls from North Texas, according to their parents.
Flooding in Texas
What we know: On Friday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at least 20 campers were missing from Camp Mystic.
Camp Mystic is an all-girls camp located in Hunt, Texas, along the Guadalupe River.
Among those, at least two North Texas girls, Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, were reported missing, their parents told FOX 4.
Also from Dallas, 8-year-old Hadley Hannah. Her father is on the ground in Kerr County.
Dallas was not the only North Texas city with girls attending the camp.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker posted that parents there had also sent their kids to camp.'
"We have Fort Worth families impacted specifically by missing girls at Camp Mystic," Parker said.
Around 7 p.m. Friday, Texas Game Wardens posted on X that they had made it to Camp Mystic and were starting to bring campers out.
Speaking at a news conference Friday, Patrick said the river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes.'
"We will not stop until we find everybody," Patrick said on Friday night.
According to a message sent to parents, campers and staff were being taken from the camp by helicopter to a school in Ingram, Texas.
Camp Mystic officials said all Cypress Lake campers and campers on senior hill were accounted for and that the parents of the missing children have been notified.
"For all the parents who are waiting, particularly that had children at Camp Mystic," Patrick said. "Right now, there are 20 some that aren't accounted for. That does not mean they've been lost. They could be in a tree. They could be out of communication."
A massive rescue response has been mobilized in response to the flooding.'
Patrick said 9 rescue teams consisting of between 400-500 people were on the ground.
Fourteen helicopters are also involved in rescue operations.
"I'm asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying this afternoon," Patrick said. "On your knees type of praying. That we find these young girls and that they're only unaccounted for because they're somewhere that we don't know yet."
As search and rescue efforts continued Friday, desperate family members rushed to the flood zone.
Elizabeth Copeland traveled from Prosper to a Kerrville RV park with her family to celebrate the Fourth.
"Debris is floating in the river," Copeland said. "You never know what is floating. If it's a tree, we have seen RVs. We have seen refrigerators."
Missing Burleson couple
A Burleson family made the trip to Kerr County hoping to find Joni and Robert Brake.
The couple were staying at an RV park off the river where cabins were washed away.
They haven't made contact with family since the early morning hours.
Kerr County Flooding
Kerr County officials are calling the flooding "catastrophic."
In a 3 p.m. news conference, Kerr County officials said 24 people were confirmed dead and that there was one death in Kendall County, but it is unknown if it was weather related.
Kerr County Sheriff's Office says it will not release any specific information about fatalities until next of kin are notified. It says that there are several people missing as well.
As much as 10 inches of heavy rain poured down in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River and leading to desperate pleas for information from people with relatives nearby.
