Texas flooding latest: Desperate search for girls missing from summer camp after 24 killed

The catastrophic flooding was caused by torrential rain – but city authorities and forecasters did not predict that it was about to strike.

One National Weather Service forecast this week had called for only between three and six inches (76 to 152 millimeters) of rain, said Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.

Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.

At least 24 people are reported dead and many more are missing, including girls from a Christian summer camp, after catastrophic river flooding hit central Texas Thursday and Friday.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said by Friday evening 24 people have been killed in the flooding, according to The New York Times.

Texas officials said the number of missing is unknown but between 23 and 25 of them were girls who had been attending Camp Mystic.