CNN's Jake Tapper was taken aback as he reported on the rapidly growing toll from the flash floods in central Texas on Tuesday afternoon.
"Republican Greg Abbott said there are at least 161 people known to be missing in Kerr County alone," said Tapper. "We previously had been told that the number was closer to 20 for Texas as a whole, but now we're being told 161 missing. The governor vowed that each person missing will be found."
"We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for," said Abbott in a clip. "Know this also, there very likely could be more added to that list."
Abbott proceeded to rebuke a reporter who asked him where the blame lay for the deaths.
"This shocking news that the toll of those missing is much higher than previously thought, at least eight times higher, comes as the death toll of those confirmed lost in the flood also continues to grow. At least 109 people, 30 of them children, have been confirmed dead," said Tapper.
The victims, he continued, "include Anna Margaret Bellows. She was only 8 years old. She's among the victims from Camp Mystic. Another 8-year-old Mystic camper, Linnie McCown. The Austin American-Statesman published a statement from their father saying his daughter, quote, 'filled our hearts with so much joy we cannot begin to explain.' Eight-year-old Mystic campers Hannah and Rebecca Lawrence are also on this grim list. Their parents say they were twins who, quote, 'shared a bond only twins could understand.' Also lost, Odessa Police Officer Bailey Martin. Odessa Police Department saying that Martin was on a trip with his family to the Guadalupe River near Kerrville, Texas, for the Fourth of July holiday weekend."
"These families, along with so many others, are going through unimaginable pain and grief," Tapper continued. "Meanwhile, some officials in Texas are facing some serious questions about preparedness and whether they acted on any flood prevention measures in this region referred to in Texas as Flash Flood Alley, in this area where flash floods killed 10 campers in 1987."
Already, the mayor of Kerrville has placed some blame at the feet of state officials for the lack of emergency sirens to alert people in affected areas to danger.
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