Gov. Greg Abbott vowed Tuesday to continue rescue efforts in the flood-ravaged Hill Country “until every missing person is accounted for”.

The death toll from the July Fourth flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing.

Gov. Greg Abbott wrote a letter Wednesday morning instructing flags on state property to immediately be lowered statewide.

Texas Flags to be lowered to half-staff this week in honor of lives lost in Kerrville flooding, Gov. Greg Abbot orders.