More than 50 people are dead following flooding that slammed central Texas over the weekend, while a desperate search for more than two dozen missing schoolgirls continues.

Texas Hill Country was beset by death and disaster Friday as at least six people were killed and about 20 girls attending a summer camp were reported missing after months worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours.

Dozens of people are dead in central Texas in what officials called a "mass casualty event" after devastating flash floods slammed Texas Hill Country, with water rescues taking place along the Guadalupe River.

The deadly floods that struck Texas on the 4th of July caught local officials off guard as the torrential rains caused the Guadalupe River to overflow in minutes.

Rescuers were searching for more than two dozen girls missing from a summer camp in Texas after a flash flood killed at least 50 people, 15 of them children. The Guadalupe River that runs through the Hill Country in central south Texas rose by 26ft (8 metres) in 45 minutes in the early hours of Friday,