NEW JERSEY, July 9 — More than 160 people remain unaccounted for after devastating floods in Texas, the state governor said yesterday, marking a dramatic increase in the number of missing from a tragedy that has so far claimed 109 lives.

Four days after flash floods roared through several Texas counties, some in the middle of the night, hopes of finding survivors were fading—and Governor Greg Abbott warned that the list of those unaccounted for could yet rise.

“Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing,” he told reporters Tuesday as the grim search continued.

“There very likely could be more added to that list,” he said, adding that the figure was based on people reported as unaccounted for by friends, relatives and neighbors.

Kerr County, part of a central Texas region known as “Flash Flood Alley,” suffered the most damage, with at least 94 fatalities.