JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

Across the hill country of Central Texas today, rescue workers are urgently searching for the missing after a wall of water rushed through an area known as Flash Flood Alley in the early morning hours of July 4th.

At least 32 people are dead.

Still unaccounted for are 27 children who are attending a Christian summer camp on the Guadalupe River.

Officials say it's unclear how many are missing from other locations.

Ali Rogin has our report.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Months worth of torrential rain fell in just a few hours in Kerr County, leaving houses and trees submerged in the flood waters.

Nearby, The National Weather Service tracked the Guadalupe River as it swelled 22 feet in two hours.

At 29.5 feet, the gauge failed.

The rushing waters dumped debris on roads, which made it hard for emergency vehicles to get through.

Crews worked overnight to locate people who were still unaccounted for.

PIERS BOYETT, Flood Survivor: People were screaming.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Others, like young camper Piers Boyett, were left to their own devices to escape the fast moving waters.

PIERS BOYETT: The flood started getting bigger and it was going up to we had bunk beds in our cabins and it was going up to the top bunk and we had one choice and we had to swim out of our cabins.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): A number of youth camps dot the area, including Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp along the river.

Searchers used helicopters to rescue survivors there, but more than two dozen of its campers are still missing.

At another camp, Heart of the Hills, the director, Jane Ragsdale, died in the flooding.

Officials in Texas vowed to keep on searching.

LARRY LEITHA, Kerr County Sheriff: We will not stop till every single person is found.

We've got all the resources we need.

We're here for the long haul.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): For now, Central Texas remains under a flood watch as more rain is forecast tonight.

For PBS News Weekend, I'm Ali Rogin.

JOHN YANG: The Carolinas are also bracing for potential flash flooding as Tropical Storm Chantal approaches the coastline.

The National Hurricane Center predicts the storm will produce moderate to heavy rainfall, possibly triggering flooding, especially in urban areas.

Over the next several days life threatening surf and rip currents are expected from North Florida up to the mid-Atlantic states.

In Southern California, dangerously dry conditions have fueled the Madre Fire.

The wildfire has charred nearly 80,000 acres near Los Padres National Forest in San Luis Obispo County.

The massive blaze is the largest in the state so far this year and is only 10 percent contained.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

And Elon Musk says he's formed a new U.S. political party.

The world's richest man says both Republicans and Democrats are bankrupting the country.

He said today the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.

Just yesterday, President Trump signed his signature tax and spending cut bill, Musk opposed it because it's projected to add trillions of dollars to the national debt.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, 250 years of American innovation, what we've accomplished and where we're heading.

And more Americans are turning to thrifting as economic uncertainty looms.