Patrick said 18 helicopters and 400 to 500 rescue workers are taking part in the search-and-rescue mission, and that some individuals had already been rescued from trees.
The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency had been activated. Patrick said he had been in contact with President Donald Trump.
Helicopters were ferrying children from the camp to safety Friday, video from NBC affiliate WOAI showed.
The Texas Game Wardens said on Facebook Friday evening: “Have made entry into Camp Mystic with vehicles and are beginning to bring campers out!”
Patrick said that even though around 20 children were unaccounted for, “that does not mean they’ve been lost.”
“They could be in a tree. They could be out of communication,” he said. “We’re praying for all of those missing to be found alive. We’re doing everything we can to get in there.”
Parts of Kerr County got a little more than 10 inches of rain over 24 hours, the National Weather Service said at 4 p.m. Friday. Farther north, Llano County got 8 1/2 inches over that period.
In Kerrville, a man told NBC affiliate WOAI of San Antonio that his brother’s house is missing after the flood — along with the brother, his wife and their two children.
Earlier in the day, Camp Mystic, where roughly 750 children were staying, issued a statement telling parents: “If your daughter is not accounted for, you have been notified,” while indicating girls located in other parts of the camp had been found safe.
The officials said the nearby highway was washed away and that the area remained without power, water or internet and was “struggling” to get more help.
“Please continue to pray and send any help if you have contacts to do so,” the officials wrote.
The camp, about two hours west of Austin, is for girls between the ages of 7 and 17, and it was due to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.
It’s located near the Guadalupe River, which authorities said surged as much as 22 feet in just half an hour Friday morning to a height of 30 feet in the nearby town of Comfort in Kerr County, breaking a record that had stood for decades.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also issued a statement on X shortly after 4 p.m. ET.
“Please pray right now for everyone in the Hill Country, especially Camp Mystic,” he wrote. “Today, I’ve spoken with Gov Abbott, Lt. Gov Patrick, the head of TDEM & President Trump. Multiple helicopters are performing search & rescue. President Trump committed ANYTHING Texas needs.”
The force of the water in Ingram in Kerr County smashed the windows of homes and ripped off doors and paneling, video from WOAI showed.
Footage on social media showed an SUV swept away by raging floodwaters in Kerrville. The person who recorded it said the video was taken Friday morning.
The Guadalupe River had crested at Kerrville and Comfort by Friday evening, but other parts of the river downstream weren’t forecast to crest until Saturday morning.
The Guadalupe River near Spring Branch was forecast to crest at 37.2 feet, classified as moderate flood stage, around 2 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
NBC meteorologist Bill Karins said that the rain event “just sat here” in the area overnight into Friday morning in hilly terrain.
“It’s not like the mountains in the Rockies or in the Appalachians, but there are hills — and so that water will rush down the hills and collect in the smaller streams, and then it all combines, and all into the Guadalupe,” Karins said on NBC News Now.
Lina Hidalgo, the judge of Harris County, where Houston is, said five of the dead are from the Houston or Harris County area.
“All of Texas is impacted by this tragic event,” she wrote on X.
Flood warnings throughout the state remain in place through the weekend.
“There is an ongoing threat for possible flash flooding from San Antonio to Waco for the next 24 to 48 hours, in addition to the continued risks in west and central Texas,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement.
