US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Kerr County, Texas, today due to flooding that has claimed dozens of lives, Reuters reported.

The declaration of a state of emergency is being made"to ensure that our brave first responders will have the resources they need immediately, BTA reported. These families are experiencing an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost and many people still missing," Trump wrote on social media.

The death toll from flooding in Texas is approaching 60 and is expected to rise, local authorities said on Tuesday, as they search for 27 children reported missing in the disaster.

"Our message to the parents of the 27 missing children is that we are not giving up on looking for them," alive or dead, said the state's lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, on Fox News, stressing the importance of believing in"miracles."

The flooding was caused by torrential rains in the central part of the state on Friday, when the Guadalupe River rose eight meters in just 45 minutes.

Twenty-seven girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp on the river in Hunt, Texas, are still missing. The water had largely receded from the camp site, but a devastated landscape was visible, with dozens of stranded cars, some pinned by trees. Chaos reigned in the cottages where the girls were staying. Mud-covered floors and broken windows testified to the force of the floods, AFP notes.

About 500 rescuers and 14 helicopters are involved in field operations, and the Texas National Guard and Coast Guard have sent reinforcements.