Texas floods: 27 confirmed dead as search continues for missing including more than 20 young girls

Some 27 people, including nine children, have been confirmed dead after flash floods in central Texas, authorities said on Saturday. Rescuers are continuing a frantic search for survivors, including dozens still missing from a girls' summer camp.

The sheriff's office in Kerr County, Texas, said 800 people had been evacuated from the region as flood waters receded in the area around the Guadalupe River, about 85 miles (137 km) northwest of San Antonio.

At least 23 to 25 people from the Camp Mystic summer camp were missing, most of them reported to be young girls. The river waters 29 feet rapidly near the camp.

The U.S. National Weather Service said that the flash flood emergency has largely ended for Kerr County, the epicenter of the flooding. The floods followed thunderstorms that dumped as much as 30 centimetres of rain early on Friday.