HUNT, Texas — At least 43 people, including 15 children, have been confirmed dead following flash floods in central Texas, authorities said on Saturday as rescuers continued a frantic search for dozens more campers, vacationers and residents who were still missing.

The casualty toll will likely rise, authorities said, as localities beyond the main site of the disaster in Kerr County were affected by the flooding. A Travis County official said four people had died from the flooding there, with 13 unaccounted for, and officials reported another death in Kendall County.

Some news organizations reported the death toll was already as high as 52. Reuters could not confirm that.

Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain in an area around the Guadalupe River, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio.

Among the missing were 27 girls from the Camp Mystic summer camp, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told a press conference on Saturday evening, and there may be others beyond that.

Mr. Rice said 27 people were known to be missing, but “we will not put a number on the other side because we just don’t know.”

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).

“We know that the rivers rise, but nobody saw this coming,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local official in the region.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 17 of the confirmed dead, including five children, had yet to be identified.

The National Weather Service said the flash flood emergency has largely ended for Kerr County, following thunderstorms that dumped more than a foot of rain. That is half of the total the region sees in a typical year. A flood watch was in effect until 7 p.m. for the broader region.

Kerr County sits in the Texas Hill Country, a rural area known for rugged terrain, historic towns and tourist attractions.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said an unknown number of visitors had come to the area for an Independence Day celebration by the river.

“We don’t know how many people were in tents on the side, in small trailers by the side, in rented homes by the side,” he said on Fox News Live.

‘COMPLETE SHOCK’
Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Mr. Patrick.

A day after the disaster struck, the camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.

Another girls’ camp in the area, Heart O’ the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present as it was between sessions.

In Comfort, a town about 40 miles down the river from Camp Mystic, huge trees, some over 60 feet tall, were pulled out and scattered around the river by the floods, with several blocking roads. While the main highway from San Antonio to affected areas remained mainly intact, some two-lane bridges were severely damaged by water.

A Reuters photographer saw around 10 cars — some with smashed windshields and doors — that had been swept away by flood waters and lay abandoned near the river.

“Complete shock. I’m still in shock today,” said Tonia Fucci, 52, a Pennsylvanian who was in Comfort visiting her grandmother. “The devastation was such that I’m still in shock today. And with the rescues going on and helicopters, you just know there’s so many missing children and missing people. You just want them to be found for the sake of the families. But, you know, it’s not going to be a good ending. It’s just not going to be. There’s no way people could have survived the swiftness of the water.”

Videos posted online showed bare concrete platforms where homes used to stand and piles of rubble along the banks of the river. Rescuers plucked residents from rooftops and trees, sometimes forming human chains to fetch people from the floodwater, local media reported.

President Donald J. Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for the victims. “Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best,” he said on social media.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference he had asked Mr. Trump to sign a disaster declaration, which would unlock federal aid for those affected. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Mr. Trump would honor that request.

Mr. Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government’s role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.

Ms. Noem said a “moderate” flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.

The administration has cut thousands of jobs from the National Weather Service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA director Rick Spinrad. He said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but said they would inevitably degrade the agency’s ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.

“People’s ability to prepare for these storms will be compromised. It undoubtedly means that additional lives will be lost and probably more property damage,” he said. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — The tattered bromance between Republican President Donald J. Trump and his main campaign financier Elon Musk took another fractious turn on Saturday when the space and automotive billionaire announced the formation of a new political party, saying Mr. Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill would bankrupt America.

A day after asking his followers on his X platform whether a new US political party should be created, Mr. Musk declared in a post on Saturday that “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he wrote.

The announcement from Mr. Musk comes after Mr. Trump signed his self-styled “big, beautiful” tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Mr. Musk fiercely opposed.

Mr. Musk, who became the world’s richest man thanks to his Tesla car company and his SpaceX satellite firm, spent hundreds of millions on Mr. Trump’s re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency from the start of the president’s second term aimed at slashing government spending.

The two have since fallen out spectacularly over disagreements about the bill.

Mr. Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.

Mr. Trump earlier last week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Mr. Musk’s companies receive from the federal government.

Republicans have expressed concern that Mr. Musk’s on-again, off-again feud with Mr. Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

Asked on X what was the one thing that made him go from loving Mr. Trump to attacking him, Mr. Musk said: “Increasing the deficit from an already insane $2T under Biden to $2.5T. This will bankrupt the country.”

He referenced the growth of Greece from subjugation to preeminence in the ancient world in another tweet, saying: “The way we’re going to crack the uniparty system is by using a variant of how Epaminondas shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility at Leuctra: Extremely concentrated force at a precise location on the battlefield.”

There was no immediate comment from Mr. Trump or the White House on Mr. Musk’s announcement.

The feud with Mr. Trump, often described as one between the world’s richest man and the world’s most powerful, has led to several precipitous falls in Tesla’s share price.

The stock soared after Mr. Trump’s November reelection and hit a high of more than $488 in December, before losing more than half of its value in April and closing the previous week out at $315.35.

Despite Mr. Musk’s deep pockets, breaking the Republican-Democratic duopoly will be a tall order, given that it has dominated American political life for more than 160 years, while Mr. Trump’s approval ratings in polls in his second term have generally held firm above 40%, despite often divisive policies. — Reuters

DHARAMSHALA, India — The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama, turned 90 on Sunday after a week of celebrations by followers during which he riled China again and spoke about his hope to live beyond 130 and reincarnate after dying.

The Nobel laureate is regarded as one of the world’s most influential religious leaders, with a following that extends well beyond Buddhism, but not by Beijing which calls him a separatist and has sought to bring the faith under its control.

Fleeing his native Tibet in 1959 in the wake of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, the 14^th Dalai Lama along with hundreds of thousands of Tibetans took shelter in India and has since advocated for a peaceful “Middle Way” to seek autonomy and religious freedom for the Tibetan people.

Thousands of followers from around the world, celebrities, and officials from the United States and India, will attend his birthday celebrations in Dharamshala, the small Indian town in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Dalai Lama lives.

During the celebrations, which will include cultural performances and remarks by long-time follower and Hollywood star Richard Gere as well as federal Indian ministers, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to deliver a speech.

In a birthday message on his website on Sunday, the Dalai Lama said he was “just a simple Buddhist monk” and that he will continue to focus on his commitments of promoting human values and religious harmony.

WISHES POUR IN
Global leaders sent well-wishes, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“I join 1.4 billion Indians in extending our warmest wishes to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 90^th birthday. He has been an enduring symbol of love, compassion, patience and moral discipline,” Mr. Modi wrote on X.

Mr. Rubio said the Dalai Lama continued to inspire people by embodying a message of “unity, peace, and compassion.”

“The United States remains firmly committed to promoting respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Tibetans. We support efforts to preserve Tibetans’ distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage, including their ability to freely choose and venerate religious leaders without interference,” he said, according to a State department readout.

The preceding week of celebrations was particularly important for Tibetan Buddhists as the Dalai Lama had previously mentioned that he would speak about his succession at his 90^th birthday.

On Wednesday, he allayed their concerns about the future of the institution of the Dalai Lama by saying that he would reincarnate as the leader of the faith upon his death and that his non-profit institution, the Gaden Phodrang Trust, had the sole authority to recognize his successor.

China has said that the succession will have to be approved by its leaders.

The United States, which is seeking to counter the rise of China, has called on Beijing to cease what it describes as interference in the succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist lamas. — Reuters