Pope Leo XIV's touching message to families of Texas flood victims as death toll rises to 79

Pope Leo XIV has broken his silence following the devastating floods in Texas that have claimed the lives of at least 79 pople.

Kerr county remains the worst affected area, with a total of 68 deaths including 28 dead at Camp Mystic alone - four are in Travis County, two in Kendall County, three in Burnet County, one in Williamson County, and one in Tom Green County.

Texas National Guard has so far rescued 520 people but Texas Governor Greg Abbott said around 41 people were still missing, as search and rescue missions continue in the area where floods destroyed entire homes.

READ MORE: Desperate final words of brave dad who died saving kids and fiancée from floods

Search teams are using helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims in flash floods that have torn across central Texas since the at the start of the July Fourth weekend.

According to the Guardian an official has received unconfirmed reports of “an additional wall of water” flowing down some of the creeks in the Guadalupe Rivershed, as rain continued to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.

Pope Leo XIV took to X yesterday to say: "I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them."

Donald Trump has said he will "probably" visit Texas on Friday, following the flash flooding that killed 79 people in the state. "We want to leave a little time," he told reporters this afternoon. "I would have done it today, but we would just be in their way, probably Friday." He said he has been in touch with the Texas governor.

The Guadalupe River surged by 30ft above its typical level with racing watering destroying Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp in Hunt. Several young girls remain missing as a huge rescue effort continues to find those still unaccounted for. Many of the missing girls are younger children who had been sleeping just yards away from the river. They had been sleeping on the low-laying "flats" in the camp's cabins, with the older girls sleeping in cabins on higher grounds.

The director of the camp, Richard Eastland, 70, died as he tried to save girls. US President Donald Trump said those affected by the floods were "enduring an unimaginable tragedy."

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