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The search for Texas flood victims continues despite the forecast of more rain

On Sunday, the search for more than two dozen girls missing from a Texas summer camp that was hit by flash flooding entered its third day. Rescuers were facing the threat of further flooding as the death toll reached 43.

Teams of search and rescue workers raced to locate 27 missing girls from a camp located near the Guadalupe River. The river flooded after torrential rainfall fell on central Texas, Friday, Independence Day. Independence Day is a holiday.

Officials reported that more than 850 people were rescued. Some of them clung to trees after a sudden thunderstorm dumped up 15 inches (38 cm), of rain, across Texas Hill Country. This is about 85 miles (140km) northwest of San Antonio. Uncertainty remained about how many people were still missing in the Texas Hill Country.

Experts questioned whether the Trump administration's cuts to federal staff, including the agency overseeing the National Weather Service (NWS), led officials to fail to accurately predict and issue warnings before the storm.

Former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said that President Donald Trump and the Trump administration have cut thousands of jobs from the National Weather Service parent agency. This has left many weather offices with a lack of staff.

He said that he didn't know if the staff cuts contributed to the lack of advanced warnings for the extreme Texas floods, but they would degrade the ability of the agency to provide accurate and timely predictions.

Kristi Noem of Homeland Security, who oversees NOAA said that a "moderate flood watch" issued by the National Weather Service on Thursday had not accurately forecast the extreme rainfall. She said the Trump Administration was working to improve the system.

The White House didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.

Joaquin Castro is a Democratic Congressman from Texas. He told CNN's "State of the Union" that less personnel in the weather service would be dangerous.

Castro stated that "when you have flash floods, there is a risk of tragedy if you do not have the personnel to perform the analysis and make the predictions the right way."

On Sunday, more rain is expected to fall in the region. The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for Kerr County until 1 pm local time.

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).

Greg Abbott, the Republican Governor of Texas, said at a Saturday press conference that he had requested Trump to sign a declaration of disaster, which would unlock federal assistance for those affected. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nuem confirmed that Trump would honor this request.

Trump has already outlined plans for the federal government to reduce its role in dealing with natural disasters and leave it to the states to take on more responsibility.

Local officials confirmed that at least 15 of those who died were children. The 27 girls missing were from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp that was nearly a century old and had 700 girls residing there at the time of flood.

The camp was in ruins a day after the catastrophe. In one cabin, the mud marks that showed how high the water rose were six feet (1.83m) above the floor. Inside, bed frames, mattresses, and other personal items were caked in mud. One building had a wall missing and some buildings had broken glass. (Reporting from Sergio Flores, Hunt, Texas, and Rich McKay, Atlanta; Additional reporting from Marco Bello and Sandra Stojanovic, Comfort, Texas; Deborah Gembara, Washington; Ryan Jones, Bhargavacharya, and Bhargav Asharya, Toronto; Writing and editing by Tim Reid, Bill Berkrot.

(source: Reuters)