By David W. Chen
Eight-year-old girls at sleep-away camp, some for the first time. Out-of-town families spanning generations, crammed into recreational vehicles to relax by a river in the Hill Country of Texas. Local residents, traveling to or from work, or simply sleeping at home.
In the predawn inkiness of Independence Day, the rains came, and the waters rose. And rose. And rose. By Wednesday morning, at least 119 people had died from the Guadalupe River pouring over its banks. Many perished in the dark, in raging floodwaters, as they were swept out of cars, cabins, houses and trailers. The disaster ranks as one of the deadliest for children in the United States in recent decades.
Among the dead: at least two dozen girls and staff members at a storied Christian summer camp, a 23-year-old police officer and his parents camping in their R.V., a 62-year-old woman driving to her job at Walmart.
And there will be more. As of Wednesday morning, more than 161 people were missing from one county alone — Kerr — northwest of San Antonio, according to Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas.
