Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesbby.

We begin the programme in Texas where 6 million people are still under flood watches, likely to stay in place till later this evening.

Meanwhile, the search and rescue operations continue. The authorities

are saying that at least 51 people are known to have died, including 15 children, but there

are still people missing, including 27 children. Young girls who are on a camping trip with

a Christian youth group. Over 800 people have been rescued,

but the scale of the disaster and the sheer speed at which it happened

is still shocking survivors.

Flash floods on Friday, caused by unprecedented heavy rain,

saw the Guadalupe River swell by 26 feet.

That's 8 metres in just 45 minutes.

Residents of the town of Hunt near Camp Mystic,

where the missing girls were swept away,

have been trying to help with the search.

It's unbelievable.

It's a lot of destruction.

Most of the camps are gone.

Like, Hunt's gone. We're just trying to keep doing what we can to find our missing. Just hang in there, have faith, and I hope that we find your baby.

A more heavy rain is forecast, we're told, in the coming days. The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott,

has signed an expanded disaster declaration to boost search efforts. And the BBC's Gary O'Donoghue

is in one of the worst hit towns. Where I am in Kerrville, we're constantly hearing helicopters

overhead, flying up and down, using thermal imaging equipment to try and find those people who are still missing.

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