Floods

The Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory for anyone headed to Vietnam as popular tourist destinations including Hanoi are set to be affected by heavy rainfall with the arrival of Storm Wipha

Tourists planning to visit Southeast Asia this week have been issued a travel warning ahead of Storm Wipha’s descent on the region. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warned on Monday, July 21 that the typhoon is heading for northern Vietnam, and is likely to lead to flooding and mudslides in affected areas.

Tropical storm Wipha made landfall in northern Vietnam on Tuesday July 22 – in alignment with the forecast shared by the FCDO. Wipha hit the provinces of Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa early on Tuesday afternoon and authorities remain on alert due to heavy rains. The FCDO has named specific popular tourist destinations as affected areas, including Ha Long Bay, Hanoi and Ninh Binh.

READ MORE: Doomed Vietnam tourist boat passengers begged to return to shore before 38 died

Wipha has already ravaged southern China but wind speeds have weakened since its descent on Vietnam according to the national weather forecasting agency.

The FCDO warned travellers to Vietnam: “You should expect heavy rainfall, strong winds, flooding and mudslides in affected areas in the days after landfall. You should expect travel disruption and should follow advice from local authorities.”

The FCDO also advises that travellers can receive regular news updates in English via VNexpress and Vietnam News. Additionally, travellers can sign up to get email notifications when the FCDO updates its travel advice for Vietnam.

A number of flights in Vietnam were cancelled ahead of Wipha’s arrival. Vietnam Airlines announced on Monday that it would be cancelling several flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong to “ensure the safety of passengers and crew”.

Meanwhile, Pacific Airlines rescheduled two flights, between Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong, to depart earlier than planned, while two more flights on the same route were cancelled.

On Tuesday, all flights operated by Vietnam Airlines Group, including Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, to and from Hai Phong were moved to depart in the afternoon. The group said: “Vietnam Airlines Group regrets the schedule changes caused by this force majeure weather event and appreciates our passengers’ understanding.

“Flight times may continue to be adjusted depending on the storm’s progression. Updated information will be communicated via the airline’s official channels and passenger contact details provided in booking records.”

The new tropical storm is set to strike just days after a tourist boat carrying as many as 53 people capsized in stormy weather in Vietnam on Saturday, July 19. Of the 53 people on board, 38 have been declared dead.

The boat was carrying 48 tourists and five crew members near Đầu Gỗ Cave off the coast of Ha Long Bay when it was hit by a sudden squall and overturned, according to local media.

Over the previous weekend, Wipha hit Hong Kong, leaving 33 people injured and the Philippines has struggles with monsoon downpours that began last week.

Hong Kong authorities erected temporary shelters for around 277 people who sought refuge from the storm. There were also 286 reports to the Government’s 1823 Call Centre and the Fire Services Department, 425 reports of fallen trees and seven confirmed flooding cases received by the Drainage Services Department, according to a statement by the Hong Kong Government on Sunday.

Vietnam is bracing for Typhoon Wipha, expected to make landfall Tuesday with winds up to 166 km/h. Mass evacuations, flight cancellations, and flood alerts are underway as the country prepares for deadly floods and landslides. The storm killed three in the Philippines.

Five-day deluge unleashed flash floods and landslides that killed 18 and left nine others missing, authorities say.

Torrential rains that lashed South Korea have killed at least 18 people and left nine others missing, authorities said, as the government lifted advisories for heavy rain and the meteorological agency warned of a return of heatwaves to southern parts of the country.

The toll on Monday came as South Korea’s military also announced dispatching thousands of troops to rain-ravaged areas to assist in recovery efforts.

The downpours began on July 16 and brought some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record to some of South Korea’s central and southern provinces. The five-day deluge collapsed homes, triggered landslides and unleashed flash floods that swept away cars and campers.

At least 10 people were killed in the southern county of Sancheong, and four others remain missing there, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Another person was killed when their house collapsed in the town of Gapyeong, northeast of the capital, Seoul, while a man who had been camping near a stream there was found dead after being swept away by rapid currents.

The man’s wife and teenage son remain missing, the South Korean JoongAng Daily reported. Two others, including a man in his 70s who had been buried in a landslide, were listed as missing in the same town.

The rains also forced some 14,166 people to evacuate their homes in 15 cities and provinces, and caused “extensive property damage”, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The agency said 1,999 cases of damage had been recorded at public facilities, and 2,238 cases were recorded at private homes and buildings.

South Korea’s military said it has dispatched some 2,500 personnel to the southwestern city of Gwangju as well as the South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang provinces to assist in the recovery efforts.

The troops will be overhauling homes and stores affected by the rains, it said.

Hannah June Kim, an associate professor in the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera that “a lot of people were taken off guard” because monsoonal rains came later than expected this year.

“The expectation was that monsoons would not be appearing during this summer,” she said. “So, when this heavy rain started to fall this past week, a lot of local areas were unprepared.”

“We are seeing the heavy effects of climate change and how it’s affecting different areas,” she added.

South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast more rainfall in the southern regions on Monday but said that a heatwave would follow. According to the JoongAng Daily, heatwave advisories and warnings have already been issued for parts of South Jeolla, the east coast of Gangwon and Jeju Island.

“From July 24 onward, morning lows will remain between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius [73.4F to 78.8F], and daytime highs will range from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius [86F to 95F], higher than the seasonal averages of 22 to 25 degrees Celsius [71.6F to 77F] in the morning and 29 to 33 degrees Celsius [84.2F to 91.4F] during the day,” it reported, citing the KMA.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.

In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite.

The government said at the time that the rainfall was the heaviest since records began, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.

Above average rainfall recorded in last five days in Sancheong county, where most deaths took place.

The nationwide death toll from heavy rainfall in South Korea has risen to 14, authorities said, as fears grow of more deaths, with 12 more people missing since the disaster began.

Two people died and four went missing in the resort town of Gapyeong on Sunday after a landslide engulfed houses and flooding swept away vehicles, the AFP news agency reported, citing government officials.

A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in the landslide, while the body of a man in his 40s was found near a bridge after he drowned, South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap reported.

Close to 170mm (6.7 inches) of rainfall was recorded in the area in Gyeonggi province, about 70km (40 miles) east of Seoul, early on Sunday.

But most of the deaths occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800mm (31.5 inches) of rain since Wednesday.

Two bodies were found there early on Sunday during search and rescue operations, raising the number of deaths in the rural county of 33,000 to eight, with six still missing.

The adjacent county of Hapcheon received 699mm (27.5 inches) of rain, while the nearby county of Hadong got 621.5mm (24.5 inches).

Two of the 12 people reported missing were from the southwestern city of Gwangju, Yonhap said.

Yonhap also quoted authorities as saying they have registered 1,920 cases of flooded roads, soil loss and destroyed public facilities, and 2,234 other cases of damage to private property, such as buildings and farmland.

A total of 12,921 people have taken shelter across 14 major cities and provinces, Yonhap said.

South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this week, the country’s southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, official weather data showed.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world. In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

Thunderstorms triggered flash floods in New York City and New Jersey on Monday, stranding commuters and motorists. The downpour was the city’s second-wettest hour in history, with more than two inches of rain. Authorities say two people were killed in New Jersey when their vehicle was swept away.

Eyewitness video shows climbers on Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu descending its peak, wading through surging water and holding onto rope lines after torrential rains. Officials confirmed all the hikers made it down safely.

Texans gather in Kerrville to mourn 120 flood victims and pray for more than 160 still missing.

Several hundred people have gathered in Tivy Antler Stadium in Texas to mourn the many lives lost and pray for those still missing from the catastrophic flash floods that battered the state over the United States July Fourth holiday.

The vigil, held on Wednesday in Kerrville – one of the worst-affected areas – brought together grieving families, local clergy, and volunteers. “Our communities were struck with tragedy literally in the darkness,” youth minister Wyatt Wentrcek told the crowd. “Middle of the night.”

At least 120 people have been confirmed dead, with more than 160 still unaccounted for, making it the deadliest inland flooding in the US since 1976. No survivors have been found since Friday.

Blue shirts bearing the school’s slogan, Tivy Fight Never Die, and green ribbons for Camp Mystic – a century-old all-girls Christian camp where at least 27 campers and counsellors died – were worn by many attendees. Officials said five campers and one counsellor from the camp remain unaccounted for.

Ricky Pruitt of the Kerrville Church of Christ addressed the crowd, noting the emotional weight of holding the vigil at a stadium more often used to celebrate sporting triumphs. “Tonight is very different than all of those nights,” he said, as reported by The Associated Press.

As mourners held each other and wiped their tears, search crews continued scouring the Guadalupe River – on foot, horseback, and by air – for those still missing. Search dogs were deployed to sniff through trees and piles of debris. Officials admitted hope of finding survivors had all but faded, with efforts now focused on giving families closure.

Worst flood in 50 years

Meteorologist Bob Henson said the disaster ranks as the most lethal inland flood in nearly five decades, surpassing the 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood in Colorado, which killed 144.

Governor Greg Abbott said many of those who were in the Hill Country during the holiday were never formally registered at a camp or hotel, making it harder to account for everyone.

He has faced growing criticism over the state’s flood preparedness, with many asking why warnings were delayed and evacuation measures insufficient.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha assured residents that accountability would come but said the immediate priority remains to recover the missing.

Abbott has urged state legislators to approve a new flood warning system and boost emergency communication networks. He is pushing for the issue to be addressed during a special legislative session already scheduled to begin on July 21. He also called for financial aid to support recovery efforts.

For years, local officials have debated installing a flood siren system, but concerns over cost and noise meant the idea was shelved – a decision now under intense scrutiny.

US President Donald Trump has pledged full federal support and is expected to visit the affected areas on Friday.

In the aftermath of the devastating floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country in Texas in the United States, a tight-knit community is mourning the loss of at least 110 lives to flash flooding – including 27 at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp situated along the Guadalupe River.

Camp Mystic bore the brunt of the floodwaters, but the region is home to several popular sleepaway camps and youth facilities serving families from across Texas, including Hill Country Youth Ranch. Tony Gallucci, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, works there.

“We’re gonna have some clearing [of debris like fallen trees] to do, we’ve got a log jam and that kind of stuff,” Gallucci said. “We do have one road [in their facilities] that buckled; it’ll have to be repaired.”

The ranch sits uphill from the river, unlike Camp Mystic, where 2.4 metres (8ft) of water filled cabins with sleeping campers in the early morning hours of July 4, and the Guadalupe River rose more than six metres (20ft) in two hours. Among the dead is camp director Dick Eastland, who perished trying to save the girls from the rushing floodwaters.

Flash flooding is a recurring threat in this part of Texas. The Hill Country, including Kerr County where the camp is located, has thin soil and limestone bedrock that limits rain from soaking into the ground, funnelling it quickly into rivers and creeks. Storms fuelled by gulf moisture and clashing air masses often drop several inches of rain in a short span, overwhelming the terrain.

That was the case last week, as deep tropical moisture in the wake of Tropical Storm Barry, which had just struck southern Mexico, fuelled intense rainfall. The Guadalupe River has flooded catastrophically in the past, with notable incidents in 1978, 1987 and in 2002, raising longstanding concerns about the vulnerability of riverside camps. Because this risk is well known, the latest tragedy has renewed scrutiny over what went wrong – and whether it could have been prevented.

A policy problem

Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut 600 positions at the National Weather Service (NWS) – the agency tasked with forecasting storms and issuing warnings. As a result, many local offices lack the staff needed to adequately inform the public. In Houston, 30 percent of NWS positions remain vacant.

“Accurate weather forecasting helps avoid fatal disasters. There are consequences to Trump’s brainless attacks on public workers, like meteorologists.” Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said in a post on X.

However, both the San Antonio and San Angelo NWS field offices, which oversee forecasting for the region that includes Kerr County, were adequately staffed at the time of the flash floods, and the office actually had more staff than usual, with five people on duty instead of the typical two.

Murphy’s office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

The NWS issued a flash flood watch at 12:41am Central Time (05:41 GMT), warning that “excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks”.  As conditions worsened, a flash flood warning was issued at 1:14 am, and a flash flood emergency was declared after 5:30am local time.

Still, Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, told The New York Times that the San Angelo office remains understaffed overall, missing a forecaster, a meteorologist-in-charge, and a senior hydrologist. Fahy did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

The recent job cuts by DOGE could hinder the ability of NWS offices nationwide to predict and respond to future severe weather events. There are additional reductions to the NWS included in the tax bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week.

The legislation rescinds funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the NWS. Those changes were drafted by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, chaired by Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

“Only a shameless and soulless partisan hack would tie the One, Big, Beautiful Bill to the Texas floods. The funds rescinded had nothing to do with weather forecasting, but were instead used for ‘heat awareness’ campaigns, ‘Green Collar jobs,’ creating a climate resilience plan based on an Indian tribe’s ‘traditional knowledge’ of weather, building a new visitor’s center at an aquarium, and ‘citizen science’ around fishing. None of the rescinded funding was obligated for any existing operations or forecasting activity,” Macarena Martinez, communications director for Senator Cruz, said in a statement.

The bill actually includes funding for additional “Weather Observing Systems” but only specifies those to be set up at airports. The legislation also maintains current funding levels for the NWS.

“After getting a 41 percent increase in its budget in the last decade, NOAA now spends roughly $3bn annually on weather forecasting, research, and related infrastructure. Even the Biden administration had proposed to cancel millions in future radar research, in part because much of the project has already been completed and would explain why, after nearly three years, the funds remained unspent. There’s simply more productive ways to be faithful stewards of public money and improve weather forecasts than continuing to overfund every possible NOAA account,” Martinez added.

The Biden administration proposed cuts to NOAA in March 2024. The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2026 proposal would cut funding for climate research, which would cut the development of new weather forecasting technologies that would, contrary to Cruz’s claims, impact weather forecasts.

The White House did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Poor flood infrastructure

Texas has increased funding for flood-related infrastructure projects in recent years, but those efforts have largely been reactionary rather than preventive.

“The loss of life is tragic. While we can’t predict every storm, we do everything we can to prepare. Texas is strong and takes every disaster seriously,” Coalter Baker, head of the Gulf Coast Protection District (GCPD), a state-funded agency responsible for coastal resiliency planning, told Al Jazeera.

The Texas Gulf Coast has experienced some of the most devastating flooding events in US history. After Hurricane Harvey – a storm in August 2017 so intense that the NWS had to add new colours to its rainfall maps – the state created the Texas Infrastructure Fund. Since the fund’s launch, it has allocated roughly $669m in funding, though only one project was located in Kerr County.

“After Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, we invested in flood prevention that still protects us today. Hurricane Ike in 2008 led to the Coastal Texas Project – the largest US Army Corps of Engineers effort ever – to defend our coast and communities. And after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, we created a first-of-its-kind flood infrastructure fund to reduce future risk. We’ll keep working – federal, state, and local – to protect lives, homes, and our economy,” said Baker, who previously served in the Trump administration and worked in the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations alongside Governor Greg Abbott.

But in this part of Texas – more than 480 kilometres (300 miles) inland – flood infrastructure improvements haven’t materialised.  According to a new Houston Chronicle investigation, Kerr County, where the affected camp is located, requested state funding three times to improve its flash flood warning system. The state rejected its requests.

Instead, the state deferred the responsibility to the county. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told The New York Times taxpayers would oppose providing local funding because of the cost.

In April, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA), a state-funded government agency, granted a more than $72,000 contract to develop a flood warning system despite concerns being raised almost a decade ago. The UGRA did not respond to our request for comment.

This comes as the Texas state house failed to pass a bill this year that would have improved the state’s emergency communication infrastructure. Among those who voted against the bill was Representative Wes Virdell, who represents Kerr County. Virdell did not respond to our request for comment.

Following the recent floods, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the state will now pay to install a flash flood warning system, despite the state previously denying such requests.

“That’s going to be one of the issues that we begin to address in less than two weeks in the state legislature. We’re going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure that we’re going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future.” Governor Greg Abbott said in a news conference on Tuesday.

Abbott’s office did not reply to Al Jazeera’s request for further details.

When asked about the current system, Judge Kelly told reporters at a Friday news conference, “We do not have a warning system.”

“This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what’s happened here. None whatsoever.”

Kelly did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Texas did not release its first statewide flood plan until last year.

More than 160 people remain unaccounted for after devastating floods in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott announced, marking a dramatic increase in the number of missing from a disaster that has already killed 109 people.

Four days after flash floods ravaged several Texas counties, some striking while residents slept, hopes of finding survivors by Tuesday have dwindled – and Abbott warned that the number of missing people could still rise further.

“Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing,” he told reporters on Tuesday as the grim search continued.

“There very likely could be more added to that list,” he added, explaining that the figure comes from individuals reported missing by friends, relatives and neighbours.

Kerr County, located in central Texas’s “Flash Flood Alley,” suffered the most catastrophic impact, with at least 94 confirmed deaths.

This toll includes at least 27 girls and counsellors who were staying at a youth summer camp along the Guadalupe River when it overflowed early on Friday morning as the Fourth of July holiday began.

Powerful floodwaters surged through the camp, demolishing cabins while hundreds slept.

As of Tuesday evening, five campers and one counsellor remained missing, according to Abbott, along with another child not associated with the camp.

“There’s nothing more important in our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost,” Abbott said.

Throughout the rest of the state, at least 15 additional deaths have been recorded, the governor added.

Ben Baker with the Texas game wardens explained that search and rescue operations using helicopters, drones and dogs face tremendous obstacles due to water and mud.

“When we’re trying to make these recoveries, these large piles can be very obstructive, and to get in deep into these piles, it’s very hazardous,” Baker said.

“It’s extremely treacherous, time-consuming. It’s dirty work, the water is still there.”

The Bay Area family of a former San Francisco Giants pitcher is among those still missing following a devastating flash flood in Central Texas that killed more than 100 people last week.

Hundreds gathered for a vigil Sunday in Marin County for Mark Walker, Sara Walker and their 14-year-old son, Johnny. The Kentfield family was visiting their vacation home in Hunt in Central Texas when the disaster struck.

Mark is the older brother of Tyler Walker, who played for the Giants between 2004 and 2008.

Mark’s mother, Kathy, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Mark’s 16-year-old daughter, Ellie, was attending nearby Camp Waldemar and was rescued. The family last heard from Mark on Thursday and later found out that the family’s home along the Guadalupe River washed away in the flood.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” Kathy told the Chronicle. “It’s a terrible feeling, because you’re helpless here.”

Mark’s son, Johnny, was going to be a freshman at Marin Catholic High School. The school released a statement, saying that a prayer service would be held Tuesday evening.

“In heartbreaking times like this, we turn to God and to prayer for the Walker family and all the victims of the devastating floods in Texas. We are still praying for a miracle in hopes that Ellie will be reunited with her mom, dad and brother,” according to the statement.

Friday’s flash flooding also claimed the lives of more than two dozen people at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls summer camp along the Guadalupe River. At least 27 campers and counselors died and as of Monday, 10 campers and a counselor are still missing.

Texas officials are facing backlash over whether they adequately prepared for and warned residents of the life-threatening weather conditions in the area known as “flash flood alley.”

At least eight people were killed and dozens are missing after monsoon rains triggered severe flooding at the Nepal-China border. Trade was halted after flooding washed away the Friendship Bridge, which links the two countries.

Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents.

The hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in the US state of Texas continues to dim a day after the death toll surpassed 100, and crews kept up the search for people missing in the aftermath.

As the storms that had battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to subside, more attention was being paid to the government’s response.

Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as “flash flood alley”.

At public briefings, officials in hard-hit Kerr County have deflected questions about what preparations and warnings were made as forecasters warned of life-threatening conditions.

“We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said on Monday. “We’re looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.”

Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. But many were caught by surprise.

Debate has also intensified over how state and local officials reacted to weather alerts forecasting the possibility of a flash flood and the lack of an early warning siren system that might have mitigated the disaster.

On Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick promised that the state would “step up” to pay for installing a flash-flood warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments “can’t afford it”.

“There should have been sirens,” Patrick said in a Fox News interview on Monday. “Had we had sirens here along this area … it’s possible that we would have saved some lives.”

The Houston Chronicle and New York Times reported that Kerr County officials had considered installing a flood-warning system about eight years ago, but dropped the effort as too costly after failing to secure a $1m grant to fund the project.

In San Antonio and in Washington, Democrats are questioning whether cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) affected the forecasting agency’s response to catastrophic and deadly flooding in Central Texas.

The White House and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have denied the allegations and accused them of “politicising” the disaster.

The NWS’s San Antonio office is responsible for forecasting the area’s weather, collecting climate data and warning the public about dangerous conditions. Texas officials criticised the NWS over the weekend, arguing it failed to warn the public about impending danger.

The office issued a stream of flash flood warnings on Thursday and Friday across its digital and radio services, which are used to communicate with public safety professionals, according to alert records.

The messages grew increasingly urgent in the early hours of Friday morning. The team sent an emergency text message to area mobile phones at about 1:14 am, calling it a “dangerous and life-threatening situation”.

Phones must have reception or be near a cell tower to receive that message, said Antwane Johnson, former director of the Public Alert Team for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mobile coverage is spotty in areas around the Guadalupe River, according to Federal Communications Commission records last updated in December.

“Even though those messages were issued, it does not mean it got to the people who needed them,” said Erik Nielsen, who studies extreme rain at Texas A&M University.

Here’s a closer look at the timeline of how the floods hit Texas and what warnings were sent when:

July 2

• The Texas Division of Emergency Management announces that the agency “activated state emergency response resources in anticipation of increased threats of flooding in parts of West and Central Texas heading into the holiday weekend”.
• In a statement, the agency urges Texans to “monitor local forecasts and avoid driving or walking into flooded areas”.

July 3

• 9:47am (14:47 GMT) – The Texas Division of Emergency Management posts warnings on social media of “the flood threat in West & Central TX”. These urge drivers to check road conditions before heading out and to turn around upon seeing water.
• 3:35pm (20:35 GMT)- The NWS Austin/San Antonio office issues a flood watch for portions of the western Hill Country.
• 11:14pm (04:14 GMT) – NWS issues a flash flood warning for Bandera County, marking the first official warning to go out.

July 4 

• 1:14am (06:14 GMT) – A flash flood watch is issued for Bandera and Kerr counties. More than a dozen flash flood warnings for counties across the affected areas will be issued by mid-morning. A mobile alert goes out to all mobile phones with reception in the area. Three more warnings are sent in the next few hours, according to the New York Times.
• 3:30am (08:30 GMT) – The level of the Guadalupe River at Hunt in Kerr County has grown from 2.3 to 5.1 metres (7.7 to 16.8 feet), according to the New York Times. With the water so high, the gauge goes offline for an estimated three hours.
• 4:35am (09:35 GMT) – The river level hits 8.8m (29 feet) in Hunt County, according to meteorologists at San Antonio TV station KSAT. The water makes its way rapidly downriver. Ten minutes later, it crests at 7m (23 feet) in Kerrville.
• 5-7am (10-12:00 GMT)- According to CBS, NWS sends out three mobile phone messages in Kerr County reading: “This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!” News reports have noted that mobile service can be patchy in the more rural parts of Kerr County, and that some residents, accustomed to seeing flood warnings, were inclined to ignore them.
• 5:15am (10:15 GMT) – NWS reports “record high” water in Hunt.
• 6:29am (11:29 GMT) – The City of Kerrville Police Department (KPD) urges all residents who live near the Guadalupe to evacuate. “This is a life threatening event,” the KPD writes in a Facebook post. “Do not wait.”
• 7am (12:00 GMT) – The KPD and firefighters begin evacuating residents. Reunification sites and shelters are set up across town, including at a church and Walmart.
• 9:30am (14:30 GMT) – The Kerr County Sheriff’s Office announces fatalities, saying it will not release details until the next of kin have been notified. “This is a catastrophic flooding event,” reads a Facebook post. “The entire county is an extremely active scene. Residents are encouraged to shelter in place and not attempt travel. Those near creeks, streams, and the Guadalupe River should immediately move to higher ground.”
• Throughout the morning and afternoon, news of fatalities trickles out. Officials announce that around 20 children are unaccounted for at Camp Mystic. The camp later confirmed that 27 campers and counsellors died.
• 3:45pm (20:45 GMT) – The river gauge begins recording again, according to the New York Times. By now, the level at Hunt has dipped back to 9 feet. Although rains continue to lash the region, the river reaches extreme heights as it moves further downstream.

The death toll from the catastrophic floods that hit the state of Texas in the United States has risen to 82, as the search for the missing continues and officials face questions over a failure to evacuate people in hard-hit Kerr County.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that at least 41 people remain unaccounted for across the southern state, three days after the deluge, and that more could be missing.

He promised authorities will continue to work around the clock to find the missing, and warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more life-threatening flooding.

In Kerr County, Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Sunday that searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, many of whom went missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls.

Leitha said 10 more girls and a counsellor remain missing and pledged to keep searching until “everybody is found”.

President Donald Trump sent his condolences to the victims and said he would probably visit the area on Friday. His administration had been in touch with Abbott, he added.

“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible. So we say, ‘God bless all of the people that have gone through so much, and God bless… God bless the state of Texas’,” he told reporters as he left New Jersey.

The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.

Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.

Kidd said rescuers were evacuating people from more places along the river, “because we are worried about another wall of river coming down in those areas”, with rain continuing to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.

Questions over preparedness

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said.

US coastguard helicopters and planes were aiding search and rescue efforts.

Freeman Martin, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said on Sunday that he expected to “see the death toll rise today and tomorrow”.

Authorities, meanwhile, have faced growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long vulnerable to flooding, and whether enough preparations were made.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from central Texas, said several communities along the Guadalupe River were evacuated after the National Weather Service sent out repeated warnings about the rising water levels, but not those in Kerr County.

“There are still no answers as to why those here weren’t alerted,” he said.

Rattansi said while Trump has activated FEMA assistance for Texas, the president had “made it clear in the past that he wants to phase out such aid, even once saying that if a state governor needs to ask for federal emergency help, perhaps they’re not up to the job”.

Trump, when asked by reporters whether he was still planning to phase out FEMA, said that it was something “we can talk about later, but right now, we are busy working”.

Rattansi also said that the Trump administration is phasing out “research and analysis of the changing climate because it feels it’s politicised and divisive”, even though “it’s exactly that sort of analysis that led to the warnings from the National Weather Service to municipal authorities to evacuate residents up and down the Guadalupe River”.

“Climate scientists have long warned that warmer air will hold more moisture and result in ever more intense storms,” he said. “Yet just as their predictions are being realised, federal resources to predict, mitigate and manage extreme weather events are at risk as never before.”

Rick Spinrad, a former director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Al Jazeera that less research will lead to less accurate predictions, making it harder for people to prepare.

“Without research, without staff to do the work, we can assume that the predictions, [for] hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, wildfires, tsunamis, for that matter, are undoubtedly going to degrade, and that means that people’s ability to prepare for these storms will be compromised,” Spinrad said.

In February, the Trump administration announced cuts affecting the jobs of hundreds of staff at NOAA, including meteorologists at the National Weather Service.

Abbott, the Texas governor, declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.

“I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday – for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said in a statement.

In Rome, Pope Leo XIV also offered special prayers for those affected by the disaster.

“I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”