Central Texas Flooding Leaves 109 Dead, Hundreds Still Missing

The flash flooding that has ravaged the Hill Country region in Central Texas has led to some of the state’s highest numbers of deaths due to a natural disaster, surpassing numbers seen during Hurricane Harvey.The current count stands at 109 fatalities, dozens more than the 68 killed during the 2017 storm that severely damaged the Gulf Coast region, Governor Abbott said on Tuesday during a press conference in the town of Hunt, one of the hardest hit areas from the torrential series of storms over the July 4 holiday weekend. Another 161 people are still considered missing as search and rescue operations continue.“The primary job right now continues to be locating everybody that was affected by this flood,” he said.The current flooding stands to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in the state’s history.Mr. Abbott vowed that the state would not rest until all of the missing are found.“Yesterday, I met with the families at Camp Mystic. I made a commitment to them. The day before, I met with the residents of Kerrville, Today I met with the residents of Hunt. I made a promise to all of them,” he said.“Texas will not stop until we finish the job,” he added. “We will not stop until we identify, recover every single body. We will not stop until every road is rebuilt, every inch of debris is removed.”In the aftermath of the storm, state and federal officials have been criticized for not issuing sufficient warnings to the public in time for proper evacuations. With demands for accountability intensifying from officials at the state and federal levels, the governor said that the state legislature would convene a special session beginning in 10 days to consider solutions “to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future.”A question from one reporter asking who is to blame led to a testy response from Mr. Abbott.“I’m going to use your words, ‘Who’s to blame?’ Know this. That’s the word choice of losers,” he said in response. “Let me explain one thing about Texas. And that is, Texas, every square inch of our state, cares about football. [They know] every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who’s to blame.”“The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions. What Texas is all about is solutions.”

Central Texas Flooding Leaves 109 Dead, Hundreds Still Missing

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