Featured Image Credit: Facebook/kellye.badon
Topics: Parenting, US News, Weather, World News, News
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Parenting, US News, Weather, World News, News
The confirmed death toll following the devastating floods that swept across central Texas last week has now reached at least 100.
Search and rescue missions are continuing to unfold as emergency services try to locate those still unaccounted for after floodwater rose 26 feet (eight metres) in just 45 minutes in the early hours of Friday (July 4), causing destruction to everything in its path.
Among the dead are 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, the Christian all-girls summer camp located on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
Many friends, family members and loved ones have since come forward to open up about their monumental losses, with a pair of grieving parents now sharing the devastating final text from their 21-year-old daughter before she was tragically taken away by the flash floods.
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The body of Joyce Catherine Badon, who sent the final text message to her family before she was washed away, has now been found.
According to a leader of a search team, the woman in question, Joyce was staying with college friends when the flood struck in Hunt, Texas, and became trapped at a house along the Guadalupe River.
On Monday (July 7), Joyce's father, Ty, told NBC News that she had been found dead with her mother, Kellye, taking to Facebook to share a tribute following the heartbreaking loss of their 'lovely' daughter.
"God showed us the way we should go this morning!" Kellye wrote. "We found our lovely daughter who blessed us for 21 years! We pray to be able to find her three friends soon. Thanks to EVERYONE for the prayers and support. God is good!"
Louis Deppe, the leader of a group of volunteers who were searching for Joyce, told Agence France-Presse that the house where she was staying 'collapsed' around 4am local time on Friday.
Deppe added: "On her cellphone, the last message [her family] got was 'we're being washed away' and the phone went dead."
The official death toll following the floods has now exceeded 100, with at least 104 confirmed fatalities in total.
In Kerr County alone, there have now been 84 deaths, which is a significant increase from the previously reported 68.
There are also seven confirmed casualties in Travis County, four in Burnet County, two in Williamson County, six in Kendall County and one in Tom Green County.
Camp Mystic has seen 27 deaths and 11 people are still missing (10 campers and one counsellor).
Camp Mystic's director, Dick Eastland, is one of those among the dead.