The flooded area is in a part of Texas known as the Hill Country, where many people visit for the natural beauty. The region has also become known as “Flash Flood Alley.” Heavy downpours like the one that caused the Guadalupe River to flood have become more frequent and intense as the burning of fossil fuels has heated the planet.

KERRVILLE, Texas — Rescuers scoured a devastated central Texas landscape of mangled trees, overturned cars and muck-filled debris Saturday in an increasingly bleak mission to locate survivors, including 27 girls who have not been seen since their camp was slammed with a wall of water in a historic flash flood.