KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — 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.
The number of missing
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 other 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 of the expected rain in Kerr County.
“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.
Members of the volunteer Lone Star Search and Recovery group said authorities pulled them off recovery operations on Sunday due to the rain, so they spent Monday helping clear debris from a badly damaged neighborhood instead.
“They don’t want us out there right now until it clears up,” said Aron Gutierrez, a volunteer who came from Fort Worth.
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.
During a special Kerrville City Council meeting, council member Brenda Hughes also complained of threats to city officials and staff, which she did not detail, and called for increased security at City Hall.
Just before daybreak on the Fourth of July, destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) on the Guadalupe River, washing away homes and vehicles. Crews in helicopters, boats and drones have been searching for victims.
The floods laid waste to the Hill Country region. The riverbanks and hills of Kerr County are filled with vacation cabins, youth camps and campgrounds, including Camp Mystic, the century-old, all-girls Christian summer camp.
Located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River in a region known as flash flood alley, Camp Mystic lost at least 27 campers and counselors.
The flood was far more severe than the 100-year event envisioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, experts said, and moved so quickly in the middle of the night that it caught many off guard in a county that lacked a warning system.
Areas that were hit by the July Fourth floods were forecast to get more rain Monday.
The Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas, where Camp Mystic is located, had risen to almost 11 feet (3 meters) by Monday afternoon, resulting in minor flooding, The river was expected to rise another 2 feet (61 centimeters) by Monday evening, causing moderate flooding, according to the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office.
The weather service had not received any reports of flooding of homes or roads as of Monday afternoon.
A series of thunderstorms that inundated areas west of Kerr County weakened as they passed through the area and there wasn’t much rain by late Monday afternoon, according to the weather service.
From Sunday night and Monday morning, southwestern Kerr County received up to 4.5 inches (11 centimeters) of rain. The Hunt area received about 2 inches (5 centimeters).
Swift water rescue teams have already been sent to Uvalde, Del Rio and Concan in anticipation of possible flooding in those communities on the Frio River, Nim Kidd, Texas emergency operations chief, said during the Monday news conference.
___ Vertuno and Lathan contributed to this report from Austin. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Michael Weissenstein in Dobbs Ferry, New York; and Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia, also contributed to this report.