New Delhi, July 7 -- A "pitch-black wall of death" flooded central Texas early July 4th, killing at least 70 people after the Guadalupe River exploded 26 feet higher in just 45 minutes. The disaster hit hardest in Kerr County, where 59 died, including 21 children swept away from riverside summer camps.

Rain poured down so fast that families sleeping in cabins and campers had no time to escape.

One survivor described clinging to a tree for hours as water ripped through his grandmother's home: "I had to swim through the window just to survive" . The flooding smashed buildings, washed away roads, and trapped hundreds who needed helicopter rescues.

Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp, suffered the worst tragedy. Floodwaters drowned 16 you...