00:00Search and rescue efforts continue for unaccounted for campers at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas.
00:08Accurate partner CNN News Source correspondent Lee Waldman is in Central Texas with more.
00:12Lee, good morning. Thank you for being with us.
00:14And what do we know about the children and staff still missing from Camp Mystic?
00:19And how are those search efforts unfolding?
00:26Well, it's good to be with you both.
00:27We know that the search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
00:30They continue through the night and into the early morning hours.
00:33Now that the sun is up here, we're getting a better view.
00:36We're just up the road from Camp Mystic.
00:38Now, we do have a new statement from them this morning.
00:41In that statement, it says in part, quote, Camp Mystic is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors following the catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River.
00:50Now, we don't know if this includes those who are missing.
00:53We reported yesterday 10 were still missing, including and then also one counselor as well.
00:58We don't know if these numbers intersect here.
01:01We're waiting for more information at a 10 a.m. local time press conference that we're expecting from officials here.
01:07But I do want to move out of the way and show you this is the Hunt Store.
01:11This is down the road from Camp Mystic.
01:13The Hunt Store is an iconic location here.
01:15It's a music venue.
01:16It's a restaurant.
01:17This is where families will gather once they get off the Guadalupe River just across the street.
01:22There's a truck next to us.
01:24They're about to set up here in this parking lot.
01:26This is a meeting spot for all of those volunteers who have been giving their time day after day to try and aid in these search and rescue operations.
01:35Any new updates from families who are still waiting for news about missing loved ones?
01:41At this point, a lot of these families are just still waiting.
01:49They're in a holding pattern, waiting to see if their loved one will turn up or not.
01:53You know, I have friends who live in this area.
01:55They said they have dozens of friends that they haven't heard from and they haven't gotten any information on them.
02:00And because this situation is so fluid, because more rain is expected here, and because it covers such a wide swath of area, the information is coming in slowly.
02:09Like you said, we're hoping to learn more at 10 o'clock local time this morning from officials about the status of some of these missing people.
02:19And we're hoping that they can have some kind of closure for their families.
02:23And what are some of the biggest challenges that crews are facing here right now along the Guadalupe River?
02:30Well, some of the challenges that we're facing here for these search and rescue teams is this ongoing weather situation.
02:41We're seeing that there's going to be more rain coming into this area.
02:45This is a low-lying area.
02:46We already saw flooding.
02:48So there's concerns over the rain that's expected, not only here in Kirk County, where I am, but in some of the surrounding counties as well.
02:55But there's also a lot of debris here as well.
02:58I think this truck might be in the way, but you might be able to see a bit of the debris across the street.
03:04You can see these massive trees snapped like twigs.
03:08They're having to dig through all of that wreckage, all of that debris, to try and see if there's something underneath it.
03:15We saw yesterday they were coming out here with chainsaws.
03:18They were using all-terrain vehicles to try and pull big trees out of the way.
03:22There's going to be helicopters flying throughout the day.
03:24We saw those yesterday.
03:25There's an unarmed drone that's also flying over this area as well.
03:30So they're using all the tools at their disposal.
03:33ACCU with a partner of CNN News Source correspondent, Lee Waldman.
03:37Lee, thanks for the information, and we'll be checking back with you throughout the day.
Comments