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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.
在得克萨斯州，一场突发洪水已造成至少50人遇难，其中包括15名儿童。救援人员正在搜寻在夏令营失踪的二十多名女孩。
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, according to officials, bursting its banks and destroying roads and property, including Camp Mystic where 27 missing girls were staying.
据官员称，流经得克萨斯丘陵地区(Hill Country)的瓜达卢佩河(Guadalupe River)在周五凌晨45分钟内水位上涨了26英尺（8米），河水决堤，冲毁了道路和财产，包括27名失踪女孩所居住的Camp Mystic营地。
The disaster struck as people across the US gathered to celebrate Independence Day. More than 850 people have been rescued, some of whom were clinging to trees, in what is being called a once in a century flood.
灾难发生时，全美各地的人们正在庆祝独立日(Independence Day)。目前已有850多人获救，其中一些人曾紧抱树木等待救援。这场洪灾被称为百年一遇。
The search and rescue operations involved helicopters, drones, 900 boats and more than 1,300 personnel, officials said, but were hampered by limited access to some areas, especially where roads had been washed away.
官员表示，搜救行动动用了直升机、无人机、900艘船只和1300多名人员，但由于部分地区通行受限，尤其是道路被冲毁的地方，搜救工作受到了阻碍。
“We will be relentless in ensuring that we locate every single person who’s been a victim of this flooding event,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a press conference in Kerrville. “We’re not going to stop today or tomorrow. We will stop when the job is completed.”
“我们将不懈努力，确保找到每一位在这次洪灾中受害的人，”得克萨斯州州长格雷格•阿博特(Greg Abbott)在克尔维尔的新闻发布会上表示。“我们不会在今天或明天就停止，只有在任务完成时，我们才会停止。”
The National Weather Service issued a further warning in the early hours on Sunday about the continued risk of flash flooding across central Texas, as rain continued to fall on saturated grounds. Weak winds meant developing thunderstorms with heavy downpours would move very slowly, it said.
国家气象局(National Weather Service)于周日凌晨再次发布警告，称由于降雨持续，地面已饱和，得克萨斯中部仍面临突发洪水的风险。该局表示，微弱的风力将导致正在发展的强雷暴移动非常缓慢，带来强降雨。
The governor signed an expanded state disaster declaration, bringing the number of affected counties to 20, following additional storm damage and rainfall overnight.
在一夜之间又发生了风暴破坏和降雨后，州长签署了扩大版的州灾难声明，使受影响的县数量增至20个。
Two of those counties include the cities of Austin and San Antonio, the third-largest metropolitan area in the state, where torrential rain has been falling for days. The governor also signed a request for a federal disaster declaration.
其中两个县包括奥斯丁和圣安东尼奥(San Antonio)这两座城市，后者所在的都市区是该州第三大，近日来暴雨不断。州长还签署了请求联邦灾难声明的文件。
US President Donald Trump said the flooding and deaths were “terrible” and “shocking” as he pledged federal support.
美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(US President Donald Trump)表示，这次洪灾和人员伤亡“可怕”且“令人震惊”，他承诺联邦政府将提供支持。
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem deflected questioning about the timing of warnings issued ahead of the floods, following cuts by the administration to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Weather Service.
在政府削减美国国家海洋和大气管理局(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)及其国家气象局预算后，美国国土安全(Homeland Security)部长克里斯蒂•诺姆(Kristi Noem)在被问及洪灾前预警发布时机的问题时进行了回避。
She said the technology behind the warning system was “ancient” and that the Trump administration was working to upgrade it. “We know that everybody wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technologies that been neglected [for] far too long,”
她表示，预警系统所依赖的技术“非常陈旧”，特朗普政府正在努力对其进行升级。“我们知道每个人都希望有更长的预警时间，这也是我们致力于升级那些长期被忽视技术的原因。”
Officials in Kerr County, north-west of San Antonio, said that the extreme rainfall had not been forecast, adding that there was no warning system in place.
圣安东尼奥西北部的克尔县(Kerr County)官员表示，这场极端降雨此前并未被预测，并补充说当地没有预警系统。
“We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what’s happened here,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local elected official. “Nobody saw this coming.”
“我们没有理由认为这里会发生这样的事情，”克尔县最高民选官员、法官罗布•凯利(Rob Kelly)表示。“没有人预料到会这样。”
But the National Weather Service said it had issued a flood watch for the area on Thursday at around 1pm local time, with the first flash flood warning for Kerr County issued in the very early hours of Friday.
但国家气象局表示，已于当地时间周四下午1点左右对该地区发布了洪水预警，并在周五凌晨首次对克尔县发布了山洪暴发警报。
Hannah Cloke, a professor of hydrology at the University of Reading in the UK, said the downpour “seems to have been well forecasted by multiple forecasters around the world, several hours in advance”.
英国雷丁大学水文学教授汉娜•克洛克(Hannah Cloke)表示，这场暴雨“似乎已经被全球多位气象预报员提前数小时准确预测”。
“It is not good enough for authorities to say they were not aware that floods were coming. Warnings were available but the message just didn’t get through,” she said.
她说：“当局仅仅表示他们不知道洪灾即将来临，这是远远不够的。虽然有预警，但信息并没有传达出去。”
The Texas Hill Country is no stranger to floods because of its geography. The area, called “flash flood alley” is marked by narrow, serpentine valleys and steep rocky hillsides that funnel water downstream into nearby creeks and rivers.
由于地理环境，得克萨斯丘陵地区(Texas Hill Country)对洪灾并不陌生。该地区被称为“山洪走廊”，以狭窄蜿蜒的山谷和陡峭的岩石山坡为特征，这些地形将水流汇入附近的小溪和河流。
When heavy rains come, the water cannot soak quickly into the ground because of the area’s thin layer of topsoil overlying limestone and granite.
当暴雨来临时，由于该地区的表层土壤很薄，下方是石灰岩和花岗岩，雨水无法迅速渗入地下。
The Trump administration has axed hundreds of jobs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Weather Service, with critics arguing that the moves would impair the country’s ability to produce life-saving forecasts.
特朗普政府裁撤了美国国家海洋和大气管理局及其国家气象局的数百个岗位，批评人士认为，这些举措将削弱美国发布救命预报的能力。
Scientists have warned that climate change is increasing the risk of devastating storms and intense rainfall because warmer air holds more moisture. A flash flood — a rapid inundation of low-lying areas — killed more than 200 people in Valencia in Spain last year.
科学家警告称，气候变化正在增加毁灭性风暴和强降雨的风险，因为较暖的空气能够容纳更多水分。去年，西班牙巴伦西亚发生了一场突发性洪水，迅速淹没了低洼地区，造成200多人死亡。
Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical & climate hazards at University College London, said the “tragic events in Texas are exactly what we would expect in our hotter, climate-changed world”.
伦敦大学学院(University College London)地球物理与气候灾害名誉教授比尔•麦奎尔(Bill McGuire)表示：“得克萨斯州发生的悲剧事件，正是我们在这个更加炎热、气候变化的世界中所预料到的。”
“There has been an explosion in extreme weather in recent years, including more devastating flash floods caused by slow-moving, wetter, storms, that dump exceptional amounts of rain over small areas across a short time,” he said.
他说：“近年来极端天气事件激增，包括由移动缓慢、含水量更高的风暴引发的更具破坏性的洪灾，这些风暴会在短时间内向小范围地区倾泻异常大量的降雨。”
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