For a second straight day, rain forecasts hampered the search Monday for people still missing after deadly floods pummeled Texas, as officials made plans to drain reservoirs in the search for victims and lowered the number of people they said remain missing.
While some official crews resumed the search along the Guadalupe River in and around Kerrville in Kerr County, others held off or were ordered to stop because of worries about the forecast and the possibility of more flooding.
And local officials, who have faced mounting scrutiny over a perceived lack of action and warnings ahead of the July Fourth storm that killed at least 132 people, complained they have received threats to their safety.
The first pause in search efforts due to the weather came Sunday in Texas Hill Country, where the soil is still primed for enhanced water runoff.
At a news conference Monday, state officials said 101 people remain missing, including 97 in the Kerrville area. The other four were swept away in neighboring counties.
That is a significant drop from the more than 160 people officials had previously said were unaccounted for in Kerr County alone, with 10 more missing in neighboring areas. State officials did not immediately respond to emailed requests for clarity on the big change in the number of missing.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested it has been difficult to pin down a number. Campers, residents or people who registered at RV parks or hotels are easier to account for, he said. Others may have been reported missing by a friend, family member or coworker.
“Even though we are reporting 97 people missing, there is no certainty that all 97 of those people were swept away by the storm,”Abbott said.
Texas Hill Country is a popular destination for tourists where campers seek out spots along the river amid the rolling hills. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said during a commissioners’ meeting Monday that it’s been difficult to determine exactly how many tourists were in the area when the flooding occurred.
“We’ve heard accounts of trailer after trailer after trailer being swept into the river with families in the them. Can’t find the trailers,” Kelly said. “It’s what we don’t know. We don’t know how many of them there are.”
Kelly said he’d been told of one trailer that was found “completely covered in gravel” 27 feet (8.2 meters) below the surface of the river. He said sonar crews have been searching the river and local lakes and more are expected to arrive.
Commissioner Don Harris said officials plan to drain two reservoir lakes on the river.
“Who knows how many out there are completely covered,” Harris said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue teams fully resumed operations on Monday, said Obed Frometa, FEMA Blue Incident Support Team information officer.
Levi Bizzell, a spokesperson for the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department, which has been organizing about 200 searchers, said the department suspended operations for the day on Monday because several inches of rain were expected to fall on Kerr County by late afternoon.
“Everybody here wants to be out there working,” Bizzell said. “They literally come in in the morning whether they are tired or not, and they just want to get out there and work because they want to find closure for these families.”
Kerr County meanwhile advised all volunteers to leave the river area and move to higher ground, saying only those teams working under the direction of Kerr County Emergency Operations Center Unified Command were permitted in the response zone.
In Kerrville, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Austin, local officials have come under scrutiny over whether residents were adequately warned about the rising water on July 4.
Authorities in Kerrville went door-to-door to some homes early Sunday warning that flooding was again possible, and pushed phone alerts to area residents.
Kerr County commissioners asked the public for their patience as the search and cleanup continues. Commissioner Rich Paces said during a meeting Monday morning that he has received death threats.
“They’re just playing a blame game," Paces said.
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