‘Cowboys’, rescue dogs join flood victims search

HUNT, United States (AFP) —Volunteers on horseback and others with rescue dogs are combing riverbanks alongside authorities in central Texas, searching for victims of catastrophic floods that have killed more than 100 people.

Rescuers in inflatable motorboats also searched Monday for bodies near Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp, where 27 campers and counselors died after being swept away by floodwaters.

Another team collected the children’s belongings from flooded cabins marked by mud lines exceeding five feet (1.5 meters) high.

About 30 volunteers on horseback, many wearing cowboy hats, joined mounted police from Austin to support rescue efforts in four towns along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County.

Michael Duncan, 55, rode Ranger, his dark brown horse, along the river, supporting rescue efforts that have deployed hundreds of searchers along several miles of the waterway.

“Obviously (on horseback)... we can gain more ground. We can get to some areas where people can’t get to as easy,” Duncan told Agence France-Presse.

The horses easily navigate the hilly terrain, undergrowth and debris left behind after the rain-swollen floodwaters receded.

Perched atop Ranger, Duncan said that the “height advantage” allowed him to scan across the mounds of debris.

Volunteers on foot also scoured the area, detecting foul odors from undergrowth that could indicate decomposing animals or human remains.