Firefighters from Mexico join response efforts to catastrophic Texas floods

KERRVILLE, Texas (Gray News/AP) – Volunteer firefighters from Acuña, Mexico, are helping rescue and recover teams in Texas after flash floods killed more than 80 people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left others still missing.

According to a protective services government agency in Mexico, the Civil Protection Water Rescue Team and Cure Firefighters teamed up with the nonprofit organization Foundation 911 to assist in search efforts in Kerrville, Texas.

The crews arrived Sunday morning and got straight to work.

After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4 a.m. that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life.

By at least 5:20 a.m., some in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.

Operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, said Monday that they lost 27 campers and counselors, confirming their worst fears after a wall of water slammed into cabins built along the edge of the Guadalupe River.

The floods, among the nation’s worst in decades, swept away people sleeping in tents, cabins and homes along the river Friday in the middle of the night.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.

President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit Friday.

“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,” he told reporters.