Aerial and Ground Footage Capture the Full Extent of Floods in Texas

Footage taken from the sky and from the ground has captured just how fast floods arrived in Texas over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, which has killed at least 82 people with hundreds more unaccounted for.

The Kerr County area surrounding the Guadalupe River has sustained most of the damage with a huge amount of rain hitting a flood-prone area at the wrong moment, according to Associated Press.

Footage taken from a bridge over the Guadalupe River shows a wall of water cascading through as the water rose over 20 feet in less than 45 minutes. Reuters shared a video of a causeway in Kingsland, Texas, disappearing beneath the floodwater in just a matter of minutes. Other videos captured in Georgetown show fast-moving water through a residential area.

Drone footage captured the devastation from the air, showing stranded, floating vehicles in the floodwater abandoned by their owners.

At midday on Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued a flood watch notice, which was escalated at 4 AM the following morning to warn of a severe threat to human life. By 5.20 AM, the floods had already begun. Survivors say they received no emergency warnings.

Officials, including President Trump, have referred to it as a “100-year flood”, but the authorities are facing criticism for not alerting people sooner, particularly youth summer camps along the river.

Associated Press photographers have been covering the floods capturing wide vistas of the devastation as well as the human toll.