Death toll in Kerr County flooding keeps climbing; 95 bodies recovered

KERRVILLE — The death toll from flooding in Kerr County has risen to 95, local officials said Wednesday morning, with crews continuing to search for victims a day after Gov. Greg Abbott said as many as 161 people were still missing.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said search crews have recovered 95 bodies as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, with 59 of those adults and 36 children. That's an increase of eight bodies recovered since Tuesday, when the Kerr County total was 87.

Leitha said 14 of the adults recovered and 13 of the children have not yet been identified.

Among those still unaccounted for are five children and a counselor from Camp Mystic, a private summer camp for girls in Hunt along the Guadalupe River. Camp officials said this week that 27 campers and counselors died in the flooding.

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Prior to Tuesday's estimate from the governor's office, state and local officials had said they couldn't put a number on how many flood victims were still not accounted for.

Law enforcement agencies were able to come up with the estimated number of missing through reports from loved ones and by gathering information about people who may not have been registered at hotels or campsites, Abbott said.

Kerrville police spokesman Jonathan Lamb said his understanding was that the estimate of 161 missing people referred only to Kerr County.

"I have no reason to doubt that number, and it was compiled from the best available information," Lamb said Wednesday morning.

The statewide total of flooding deaths has now risen to 118. Along with the 95 bodies recovered in Kerr County, eight have been recovered in neighboring Kendall County related to the same Guadalupe River flooding that claimed the lives in Kerr County. In a separate flooding incident, seven people died in Travis County, four in Williamson County and four in Burnet County, officials said.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.