LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Texas Hill Country is reeling from the devastation caused by deadly floods.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The number of fatalities continues to increase four days after the overflowing Guadalupe River ravaged parts of the area. And residents are starting to ask whether this could have been prevented.
FADEL: NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán is in Kerrville, Texas, and joins us now. Hi, Sergio.
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So let's start with the latest. What do we know now about fatalities? It's gone up?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, yeah. The latest news is very unfortunate. State authorities have said that at least 100 people have died as a result of the floods. But the vast majority of those fatalities are in one county here, Kerr County. The sheriff's office says 84 people were killed. This figure includes 56 adults and 28 children. Others remain missing. So truly devastating news here.
FADEL: It's just so many children. Were most of them at that Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic, that sits along the river?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, presumably. You know, local authorities did not provide a breakdown in their last update, which happened in the form of a social media post yesterday and different from the press conferences they had been holding twice a day. But Camp Mystic, which is the all-girls Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River that you mentioned, has said that 27 campers and counselors were killed in the floods. I went up to the camp, Leila, and parts of it were swept away. And the areas around it were completely destroyed. And, you know, even people who survived the floods, like Paul Scherer, have mentioned how painful it is to see so many kids die.
PAUL SCHERER: These kids that were there were like 7, 8, 9 and 10-year-olds. They had a big life ahead of them, and it's pitiful that this happened to them.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Scherer is 74 and was living in a small apartment by the Guadalupe River. He had to evacuate in the early hours of Friday when the water was already about 4 feet tall in the parking lot. He lost his home, but he says he's lucky and that he's praying for the families of the girls who died.
FADEL: And, Sergio, I mean, one of the big questions is about whether people were warned in time with enough notice to get out of the way of these flash floods. What are people telling you on the ground?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, you know, almost all of the residents I've talked to in Kerr County say they did not get an alarm. Some got text messages, but they say it happened as the river was already on their steps. One of them told me he'd like the state to have an alarm system along the river. And this is something, you know, I've also heard from other folks. They want flood sirens or something like that. And politicians, Leila, seem to be listening. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told Fox News yesterday the state needs to step up and pay for an alarm system along the Guadalupe River.
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DAN PATRICK: Had we had sirens along this area, up and down, the same type of sirens that they have in Israel when there's an attack coming, that would've blown very loudly, it's possible that that would've saved some of these lives.
FADEL: Now, it's been four days of search and rescue. Is anything changing at this point?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: At this point, search and rescue operations continue. The governor has said it's a 24/7 operation. Yesterday, I was by the riverbank, and law enforcement agents were searching the area. And as the water volumes recede, you can clearly see the destruction in the area. So cleaning crews are now out in the streets, too, removing debris from the river and the roads.
FADEL: That's NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán in Kerrville, Texas. Thank you for your reporting.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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