The girls' camp devastated by the Texas flood mourns the deaths of 27 campers and counselors.

The Christian girls' camp that suffered the devastating consequences of an unexpected flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas last weekend published a statement on its website Monday lamenting the deaths of 27 campers and counselors.

While the scourge of this natural tragedy has affected various areas of the city of Kerrville and its surroundings, Mystic Camp has become one of its cruelest faces due to the large number of children who come each week to spend part of their vacation and who on July 4 were surprised by the flooding of the Guadalupe River, which caused the water level to rise by nearly ten meters in half an hour.

The official death toll from the flooding is 104, according to White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt, including at least 28 children, and authorities have said the death toll is likely to rise as search teams wade through mud-laden banks and fly over the flooded landscape. Most of the dead were in Kerrville , Texas, along the river, according to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha.

Emergency teams continue to search for dozens of missing people amid the prospect of more torrential rains and thunderstorms.

Predawn rains transformed the Guadalupe River, which runs through Kerrville, into a raging torrent in less than an hour. The floodwaters swept through Camp Mystic , a nearly century-old Christian retreat for girls located on the riverbank. “Our hearts are broken along with our families who are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,” the camp said in a statement Monday.

Richard "Dick" Eastland, 70, co-owner and director of Camp Mystic, died trying to save girls from his camp during the flood, several media outlets, including the Austin American-Statesman, have reported. Eastland and his wife, Tweety Eastland, had owned the camp since 1974, according to its website.

"If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls he loved and cared for so much," Eastland's grandson, George Eastland, wrote on Instagram.

State emergency management officials warned Thursday, ahead of the July 4th holiday, that parts of Central Texas faced the possibility of heavy rains and flash flooding, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service.

The meteorological service has issued a flood warning for the region until 7 p.m. Monday.

But twice as much rain as expected ended up falling on two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream from where they converge, sending all that water hurtling into the river's only channel where it cuts through Kerrville, said City Manager Dalton Rice. Rice and other public officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, said the circumstances of the flooding, and the adequacy of weather forecasts and warning systems, would be reviewed once the immediate situation was under control. Meanwhile, search and rescue operations continued around the clock, with hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground addressing a myriad of challenges.

"It's hot, it's muddy, they're moving debris, there are snakes," Martin told reporters on Sunday.

Thomas Suelzar, adjutant general of the Texas Military Department, said the aerial search assets included eight helicopters and a remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft equipped with advanced sensors for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Authorities said Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, some clinging to trees, after the sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches of rain across the region, about 85 miles (140 km) northwest of San Antonio. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated Sunday and was deploying resources to Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and aircraft were assisting in the search and rescue efforts.

Trump said Sunday he would visit the disaster site, likely on Friday. The president has previously outlined plans to reduce the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.

Some experts questioned whether the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce, including the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to officials being unable to accurately predict the severity of flooding and issue adequate warnings ahead of the storm. The Trump administration has overseen thousands of job cuts at the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA Director Rick Spinrad.

Trump defended himself when asked Sunday whether federal government cuts hampered the disaster response or left key Weather Service positions vacant under Trump's watch.

"That water situation, all of that, and that was really Biden's setup," he said, referring to his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. "But I wouldn't blame Biden for it either. I just wouldn't say this is a 100-year catastrophe."

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday on Fox News that there did not appear to be a specific glitch in the National Weather Service's systems.

"The warnings were issued several hours in advance, but the rise in water levels and the speed with which they occurred are unprecedented in this area," he said.