68 people have already died in the floods in Texas, including 21, and dozens are missing

At least 68 people have died in the U.S. state of Texas in the major floodcaused by the overflow of the Guadalupe River. Kerr County has been the most hit, with 59 dead, including 21 children.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha has given the final balance this Sunday, although Assistant State Governor Dan Patrick has warned that he is almost certain that the number of victims will increase in the next few hours, especially since the number of missing persons has not yet been known, as hundreds of tourists visiting the affected villages on the pretext of the July 4 holiday.

"Thousands of people had come with a tent, a caravan or a small rented house on the bank of the river. We don't know who they are," Patrick told NBC. "There were a lot of visitors in a village of 20,000 inhabitants," he added pessimistically before talking about the situation of the missing girls.

"We have to maintain a certain balance so that people have hope, but we can't exaggerate the situation. There comes a time when we have to be as honest as possible. We never give up looking for missing people. We've had storms in the past and people have appeared alive after going 16 or 24 kilometers downstream. But it's true that the hours are getting long," he explains.

Meanwhile, rescue services continue to work this Sunday to locate potential survivors. The head of the Emergency Management, Nim Kidd, has explained that "we are looking all over the river, from top to bottom", and that includes air personnel, boats and ground equipment, as well as search dogs. "We will continue the search process. We will not stop until all missing persons are located," he has confirmed in statements collected by the same chain.

The city administrator of Kerrville, Dalton Rice, has told CNN that hundreds of people have been rescued from 18 other camps around the Guadalupe River, where, he explained, there were many people on the occasion of July 4.

The rain won't breathe

According to the latest weather forecasts published this morning by the State Weather Service (NWS), heavy rainfall is still expected and sudden floods are not ruled out in the next few hours in western and central Texas.