His optimism was fading. He paused along a Texas 39 grape orchard as friends searched across the highway in a massive field spanning half a mile. Trees once blocked the roadside view. Now, the still-swollen river, a mess of uprooted trees and scattering of volunteer searchers were visible from the road.

At least 21 children are among the dead, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference Sunday morning. There are several major camps in the area. At one of them, Camp Mystic, on the banks of the Guadalupe River,