Devastating flooding in parts of central Texas has led to the deaths of at least 90 people, including 27 campers and counsellors at a Christian summer camp, after the Guadalupe River rose to a height of 26 feet in less than an hour.

Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest. The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.