there are four confirmed missing at this point. identified as missing. now, we don t know just how many people were in the wilderness when this happened. as you mentioned, those campground logs were washed away in this massive flood, which, by the way, came out of nowhere, so to speak, in the mid dflt night as all these people were camping beneath some very steep terrain. a tremendous amount of runoff coming from the mountains, as well as a tremendous amount of rain in a short period of time, just pushed those rivers up over their banks and led to this tragedy. yeah. and julie, as you look around you in terms of the skies, what does the weather look like today for these rescue operations? reporter: it s kind of good, because there s a lot of cloud cover today, alex, that s going to give people a break from the heat here. so far, no rain as well. those river levels have dropped significantly, which is a big change from yesterday. in fact, the little missouri river is now down around
if you ve been involved with a flash flood event, there s no time. reporter: road and bridges weren t passable by car. those who reached higher ground were the lucky ones. there was no way i could get out. i lost everything i have, but we re alive. reporter: the chris family has been coming here for 25 years. this time they lost their dog and almost saw their son drown downstream. i have a 16-year-old that was floating down the river saying, mom and daddy, help me. all we had to do we couldn t do nothing. we had to watch him float down. thank god he lodged to a tree. but i got another compared to those babies screaming and hollering in the river. help me, help me. we couldn t reach them. reporter: rescue efforts are under way for 40 people still missing along the caddo and little missouri rivers. they ve got horses, helicopters, they ve got foot patrols, they ve got all-terrain vehicles. i mean, they re doing everything they know how to do. there s everybody working. re
reporter: that s exactly right, alex. as you remember, they found two bodies yesterday that brought the death toll up to 18. that brought the list of the missing, those officially considered unaccounted for, down to 22. well, just a few moments ago, officials told nbc news that that list, there s been more movement on that list. the list of those unaccounted for. they ve always suspected that people may have gotten out safely and but we re still on that list. well, it turns out the list has been reduced. we can t quite say yet by how much. but it has been reduced by people getting out safely and now checking in with authorities to let them know that they are safe. 200 searchers started just after daybreak, scouring a rugged and remote 20-mile stretch of the cat and little missouri rivers. on foot, it was a tough slog. hard to walk. a lot of debris. a lot of trees that are down. and we re just having a pretty
the terrain, the debris, the heat, the humidity all making it very tough on them but for the families of the loved ones, it has become an agonizing wait. nearly 200 searchers started just after day break scouring a rugged and remote stretch of the caddo and little missouri rivers. on foot it was a tough slog. hard to walk. a lot of debris. a lot of trees that are down. we re just having a pretty hard time walking and getting through. reporter: the dense overgrown underbrush made it dangerous to look for signs of life or anything else. that s why we have so many people here, so many different sets of eyes. maybe what one misses another will catch. reporter: other search eers, face temperature and humidity in the upper 90s. all-terrain vehicles, in
soccer action amid massive crowds. we ve got a live report straight ahead. a new twist. joran van der sloot telling more tales in a peruvian jail. a dramatic end. breaking news on the teen lost at sea. the parents will be talking about their daughter s fate this hour. good morning, everyone, i m alex witt and welcome to msnbc saturday. we begin on the east coast in arkansas where searchers rescuers are searching for dozens of missing people after raging floodwaters destroyed a campground yesterday, wrapping cars around trees and literally tearing asphalt from the road. at least 16 people are confirmed dead. nbc s john yang is in langley, arkansas, with more. reporter: good morning. searchers back at it again today, searching along a 20-mile rugged and remote stretch of the caddo and little missouri rivers. officials expect the water levels to start receding today. as a result, they expect to find more bodies.