A dramatic account claiming that two young girls were rescued after spending days clinging to a 30-foot-high tree near Comfort, Texas was retracted on Sunday after state and local officials confirmed the story never happened. The tale, attributed to a volunteer rescuer’s social-media post, spread rapidly across national and international outlets before it was debunked. Texas Representative Chip Roy wrote that “the story of rescues in Kendall County was NOT true,” and the Kerr County Lead newspaper issued an editor’s note withdrawing its original article. Houston television station KPRC and other media that had repeated the report followed suit, underscoring the speed with which unverified information circulated during the disaster response. The false narrative emerged amid ongoing flash-flood devastation across the Texas Hill Country. Authorities say at least 80 people have died and dozens remain unaccounted for along the Guadalupe River, where more than 400 responders are searching a 30-mile stretch for survivors. Ten campers and a counselor from Camp Mystic are still missing, and Governor Greg Abbott warned that additional rainfall could trigger further flooding in already saturated areas.