Texas Flooding: Georgia leaders hold prayer service at State Capitol

Texas flooding prayer service in Georgia

Georgia lawmakers pray for Texas following catastrophic flooding. The death toll continues to rise as the search continues for about a hundred victims who are still missing. Georgia House members gathered under the Gold Dome for Wednesday morning's prayer service.

ATLANTA - Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns led state lawmakers and Georgia clergy in a prayer service at the State Capitol for Texas flood victims Wednesday. 

Georgia lawmakers pray for Texas flooding victims

What they're saying:

"We gather today to lift up our fellow Americans impacted by the devastating Hill Country floods," Speaker Burns said.

Sandersville Democratic Rep. Mack Jackson offered a word of prayer saying, "Georgians come together to pray for the loss of lives in Texas, the horrendous devastation that they are facing in the state of Texas."

Georgia lawmakers paused from their usual business to offer words of prayer and comfort for Texans left reeling from catastrophic flooding as the death toll continues to rise.

"May they feel the love and prayers of the people of the state of Georgia," said First Baptist Church of Columbus Pastor Jimmy Elder.                                      

Having suffered the loss of her own child, Fairburn Democratic Rep. Lydia Glaize expressed deep sympathy for the families of the young victims.

"No parent should have to bury a child and the younger they are, I guarantee you, the more it hurts," Rep. Glaize lamented.                                                  

Speaker Burns echoed her heartfelt condolences to the families of the children lost.

"I can't help but grieve for the parents who dropped their children off at Camp Mystic that morning, and never imagined it would be the last time they saw their children again." 

Texas flood victims still missing

The backstory:

More than 100 hundred people are still missing after deadly flooding hit parts of Texas around the Guadalupe River on July 4. 

Texas continues to cleanup after flooding

The devastation in Texas is still gut-wrenching over a week after catastrophic floods killed more than 130 people. Crews with the search and recovery operation having been working around the clock and say they won’t stop until they find all of the missing victims.

The hardest hit area was in Kerr County, Texas. 

That includes a Christian summer camp where dozens of young girls were swept away. Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter's granddaughters were at the camp. They survived, but the girl's cousin died in the flooding. 

Several other people with Georgia ties have died in the flooding, including an Emory graduate and Atlanta-based attorney and a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. 

Help Texas flooding victims

What you can do:

Speaker Burns encouraged Georgians who would like to help support local flood recovery efforts to make a donation through the Texas-based non-profit organization One-Star Foundation.

FOX 5 is also raising funds to donate to victims of the flooding and to help with the cleanup.