20 girls missing from Christian summer camp after flash flood strikes Texas, at least 27 people dead

Dozens are dead in the aftermath of flash flooding devastating the region of Hill Country in Texas. There have been at least 27 deaths reported and around the same number are unaccounted for.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the flash flooding that hit the summer camp has claimed 27 lives, and around 20 young girls who were at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, are still missing. The floods hit on Independence Day as the Guadalupe River rose very quickly, sweeping through the campgrounds.

During a Friday evening news conference, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, "Texas is providing all necessary resources to Kerrville, Ingram, Hunt and the entire Texas Hill Country dealing with these devastating floods. ... I urge Texans to heed guidance from state and local officials and monitor local forecasts to avoid driving into flooded areas."

A search effort was launched, and as of Friday evening, 237 people had been evacuated, 167 by helicopter. According to CBS News, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that there was not "a drop of rain until the tragedy struck" early in the day. The river rose by 26 feet in 45 minutes and an alert went out at 4 and 5 am local time.

City manager of Kerrville Dalton Rice explained how the river was able to rise so quickly, saying, "When you look at the headwaters of the Guadalupe... there's a north and a south fork. Since 1987, under normal conditions, if you can call it that, you'll hit water in one of those areas, and those two forks will converge into the Guadalupe, which comes through the city of Kerrville."

"This rain event sat on top of that and dumped more rain than what was forecasted on both of those forks," Rice added. "When we got the report, it was about 7 feet or so on the south fork, and within a matter of minutes it was up to 29 feet, and all of that converged at Guadalupe."

The height of the river was the second largest on record in Hunt, Texas. Although there had been meetings on Thursday with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the National Weather Service "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," Texas officials said. The original estimate was only 8 inches of rain.