By Rich McKay and Ryan Patrick Jones (Reuters) -Some 27 people, including nine children, have been confirmed dead after flash floods in central Texas, authorities said on Saturday, as rescuers continued a frantic search for survivors including dozens still missing from a girls' summer camp. The sheriff's office in Kerr County, Texas said more than 800 people had been evacuated from the region as flood waters receded in the area around the Guadalupe River, about 85 miles (137 km) northwest of San Antonio. "We will not stop until every single person is found," Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference. At least 23 to 25 people from the Camp Mystic summer camp were missing, most of them reported to be young girls. The river waters rose 29 feet rapidly near the camp. The U.S. National Weather Service said that the flash flood emergency has largely ended for Kerr County, the epicenter of the flooding, following thunderstorms that dumped as much as 15 inches of rain -- half of the total the region sees in a typical year. A flood watch remained in effect until 7 p.m. for the broader region. Kerr County sits in the Texas Hill Country, a rural area known for its rugged terrain, historic towns and other tourist attractions. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said up to 500 rescue workers were searching for an unknown number of missing people, including some who had come to the area for an Independence Day celebration by the river. "We don't know how many people were in tents on the side, in small trailers by the side, in rented homes by the side, because it was going to be the Fourth of July holiday," he said on Fox News Live. Camp Mystic had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Patrick. Another girls' camp, Heart O' the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present as it was between sessions. U.S. President Donald Trump said the federal government is working with state and local officials to respond to the flooding. "Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy. Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best," he said on social media. Videos posted online showed bare concrete platforms where homes used to stand and piles of rubble along the banks of the river. Rescuers plucked residents from rooftops and trees, sometimes forming human chains to fetch people from the floodwater, local media reported. Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, told reporters on Friday that the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing advance evacuation orders as the Guadalupe River swiftly rose above major flood stage in less than two hours. State emergency management officials had warned as early as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats, citing National Weather Service forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend. The forecasts, however, "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told a news conference on Friday night. The weekend disaster echoes a catastrophic 1987 Guadalupe River flood in which 10 teenagers drowned when trying to leave a church camp, according to the National Weather Service. (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; writing by Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by Ryan Jones in Torronto; editing by Diane Craft and Nick Zieminski)
