Young campers and a dad saving his family were among the dozens killed in the historic flash floods that tore through central Texas over the holiday weekend.

Texas. North Carolina. Illinois. New Mexico. Flash flooding has surged into the spotlight in the last week with record-breaking flood events occurring nearly back-to-back across the country. Here’s why they happened now and why floods are becoming more intense.

At Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp in Hunt, Texas, where officials are grieving the loss of 27 children and counselors, belongings of the young campers were strewn about the flooded floors of a dormitory, while other items, including a pink backpack and a Camp Mystic T-shirt, were found along the bloated Guadalupe River, photos show.

Following Thursday night’s flooding, locals reflect on this year’s destruction and question how the state can prevent what has become a yearly tragedy.

Thursday's rain was a highly localized event. The highest impact was only felt over a 5-to-10 mile area south of Boston.

Catastrophic floods often bring with them loss of power, cuts to key emergency communications and sudden hazardous situations that leave victims with only minutes or seconds to seek higher ground and stay safe.

While yesterday’s floods were much smaller in scale than in previous years, the date’s symbolic nature brought painful memories and underlined the new regularity of flooding in Vermont.

Flash floods hit cities and towns south of Boston Thursday as historic rain brought traffic to a crawl and shut down part of I-93.

Country music singer George Strait announced plans to host a dinner and concert to benefit victims of the catastrophic flooding across the Texas Hill Country.