Kentfield residents reported missing in Texas flood

Three members of a Kentfield family are missing in the aftermath of the flash flooding in central Texas during the Independence Day weekend.

Mark Walker, 52, Sara Walker, 50, and Johnny Walker, 14, were last seen in the Hunt community, the Kerr County Lead reported. The couple’s 16-year-old daughter Ellie was rescued at a summer camp, according to news reports.

The Walkers are among dozens of people missing since flood waters rose along the Guadalupe River near San Antonio. More than 80 deaths were reported across six counties.

A candlelight vigil for the Walkers was held Sunday at Bacich Elementary School. Ellie is a student at Marin Catholic High School, where her brother is enrolled as an incoming freshman. Marin Catholic plans to hold a prayer service at St. Francis Chapel at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“At the request of the Walker family, we are declining to comment at this time,” Lisa Johnston, a school spokesperson, said Monday.

Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp hit by the catastrophic flooding, confirmed Monday that at least 27 campers and counselors had died in an “unimaginable tragedy,” as questions increasingly turned to the adequacy of warning systems in the flood-prone area.

The deluge, which began Friday and has killed at least 88 people, has become one of the deadliest floods in the United States in the past 100 years. Rescue crews worked through the night and had no plans of slowing down Monday, even while bracing for the possibility of more downpours and flash flooding.

Harrowing stories have emerged across the Hill Country, including accounts of rescues and reunions. In Kerr County, the hardest-hit area, the victims from Camp Mystic included girls as young as 8, as well as counselors and the camp’s director.

The authorities said Monday that they were still looking for those who went missing in the flood, including 10 girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic. But they also suggested that hopes of finding survivors were fading by the day.

“This will be a rough week,” said Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr.

Officials faced new rounds of questions Monday over whether more should have been done to give warning and evacuate areas around the river. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said there would be a “careful examination of what happened” to prevent the same loss of life in the future.

Much of central Texas, including the Hill Country, was under a flood watch Monday. The Weather Prediction Center cautioned that “any storms that move across this extremely vulnerable region will rapidly cause flash flooding.”

Hundreds of people have been scrambling to find survivors clinging to trees and floating on furniture. As time goes on, the chances of finding survivors dwindle, and rescues become recovery missions.

At least 75 of those killed in the floods, including 27 children, were in Kerr County, northwest of San Antonio. Five people were killed in Travis County, three in Burnet County, two in Kendall County, two in Williamson County and one in Tom Green County, authorities said.

The New York Times contributed to this report. This story will be updated.