A search for Texas flood survivors intensified as Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for nearly two dozen Texas counties.

Local officials warned the number of dead will likely rise and were due to give an update on Sunday morning, as search and rescue teams raced to find 27 girls missing from a camp near the Guadalupe River,

At Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp in Hunt, Texas, where officials are grieving the loss of 27 children and counselors, belongings of the young campers are strewn about the flooded floors of a dormitory, while other items, including a pink backpack and a Camp Mystic t-shirt, were found along the bloated Guadalupe River, photos show.

Residents of Kerr County began clearing mud and salvaging what they could from their demolished properties as they recounted harrowing escapes from rapidly rising floodwaters.

Rescue operations are ongoing in Central Texas after flash flooding along the Guadalupe River left 23 girls from Camp Mystic unaccounted for. Officials say dozens have died as catastrophic floods continue to ravage the Hill Country.

At least 80 people are dead and many more are missing in Texas in the wake of torrential rains and resulting flooding. By far the greatest number of fatalities occurred in Kerr County, where 68 people are believed to be dead,