Girl’s Christian Camp Washed Away: Dozens of Campers Missing as Texas Sees Devastating Floods
Officials believe at least 23 to 25 campers remain unaccounted for.
A devastating flash flood tore through the Texas Hill Country over the Fourth of July weekend, killing at least 32 people, including 14 children, and leaving more than two dozen still missing, most from a Christian girls’ camp along the Guadalupe River.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”
The floodwaters surged nearly 30 feet in under an hour before dawn Friday. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha confirmed 18 adults and 14 children have died, with more than 800 people evacuated and 850 rescued.
“We will not stop until we find everyone who is missing,” Nim Kidd, chief of Texas Department of Emergency Management, said at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Camp Mystic had 700 girls on-site when the storm hit. Officials believe at least 23 to 25 campers remain unaccounted for.
Kerr County judge Rob Kelly said the area does “not have a warning system” and said that authorities were shocked by the ferocity of the floods.
“We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be any, anything like what’s happened here. None whatsoever,” Kelly told CBS Evening News.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice described the sudden convergence of river forks that led to a catastrophic rise in water levels.
“When you look at the headwaters of the Guadalupe… there’s a north and a south fork,” Rice said Friday night. “Since 1987, under normal conditions, if you can call it that, you’ll hit water in one of those areas, and those two forks will converge into the Guadalupe, which comes through the city of Kerrville.”
“This rain event sat on top of that and dumped more rain than what was forecasted on both of those forks,” Rice continued. “When we got the report, it was about 7 feet or so on the south fork, and within a matter of minutes it was up to 29 feet, and all of that converged at Guadalupe.”
State and federal officials have launched an all-hands-on-deck rescue and recovery effort. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is on the ground, and Governor Greg Abbott has expanded the federal disaster declaration.
“We will stop at nothing to ensure that every asset and person and plane, whatever is needed, is going to be involved in the process of rescuing every last person and ensure everybody involved in this is going to be fully accounted for,” Abbott said.
President Donald Trump released a statement of support:
“The Trump Administration is working with State and Local Officials on the ground in Texas in response to the tragic flooding that took place yesterday. Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly. Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy. Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!”
Search efforts continue as the community holds its breath for those still missing. I am sure that Legal Insurrection readers will join me in praying for the families and victims across Texas as this tragedy continues to unfold.
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Democrats not wasting any time trying to use the deaths of these girls for their political ends 🤬🙄 The khunts!
You are one sick puppy.
See Milhouse’s post below, dumbass.
Prayers. My heart aches for the families.
30n ft deep is staggering, loss of especially children is awful, this on top of a 2 year old, stung over 130 times by yellow jackets, who is suffering multiple organ failure.
I live about 1 1/2 hours away
This stabs at everyone’s heart and soul
All the little girls…
We used those areas, tubing, boating, camping.
When my children were young, they went to overnight camps in the hill Country…
I can’t even
This strikes close to home. My daughter is going to Cam ACC in a few weeks (Unicoi). I had heard it got hit by Helene but haven’t seen details. I’m curious how bad. I know they could not open for some of their earlier revenue uses or even use it for shelter for those who lost their homes because of damage.
I can’t fathom being onsite during an event like this. Praying for those girls to be safe.
Hoping and praying they will be found safe.
I live not far from Canyon Lake and I drive through those areas regularly. The two forks of the Guadalupe converge at Hunt, and the camp is about 5-6 miles downstream. It makes sense that the media are concentrating on the camp and Kerrville, but I haven’t seen any reporting on the fate of the small towns downstream from Kerrville that sit literally at the water’s edge, although they had to have been completely flooded.
New Braunfels had to stop all river activities (on July 4th weekend!), the county evacuated some roads today too. Georgetown had to do evacuations too, a large apartment complex was right on the edge where 2 over-filled rivers converged.
Prayers, honesty in reporting and common sense. This is NOT the time for hysterics, etc.
“Camp Mystic had 700 girls on-site when the storm hit. Officials believe at least 23 to 25 campers remain unaccounted for.”
Though tragic, high praise to the Camp and Staff! Look at the following for some perspective:
https://x.com/GageGoulding/status/1941131636479041889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1941131636479041889%7Ctwgr%5E782ccfa03ac8b18c5c630364d714488db6ff9393%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Feric-v%2F2025%2F07%2F04%2Fchildren-among-the-missing-as-intense-rescue-effort-continues-in-the-wake-of-catastrophic-texas-flood-n2415224
https://xcancel.com/humerus6cents/status/1941347154884542795
The owner of the camp died too.
Sadly yes. He was safe but entered the flood waters in an attempt to rescue a number of the young girls that were caught in one of the cabins.
we’re downstream from canyon lake a ways and about 100yds off the guadalupe–so far, so good here–the timing was the critical thing in kerrville–along with the rapid rise~26ft or so in 45 mins–it arrived in darkness–sheer chaos am sure–kudos to the ems / state / first respondors–risking their lives to rescue others–thank you for your courage and dedication
condolences to the victim’s families/loved ones
Everything south of Canon Lake is getting different water than Kerrville did. I live in that area too.
I’ve heard that Dems are blaming it on “Trump cuts to the National Weather Service”, although as I understand it none of the people fired were meteorologists.
Rest assured, had they still been on the NWS payroll, those bureaucrats would have been hard at work in DC at 4am on a Federal Holiday, striving to save those Christian girls in Texas.
Those “cuts” start in October.
I dont want to bring politics into the discussion.
I live in the north texas area, Its been 20 years since we have 1″ of rain during any week of June July or Aug. Its probably been 50-60 years since the texas has had 2″ of rain during any week, much less in a 2-3 hour period, in the months of june/july or aug (with the exception of a hurricane).
I doubt any one was monitoring the rain forecast, given the historically low probability of any rain hitting. So whether the NWS fired every meteoroligist or doubled the number of meteorologists, it likely would have made zero difference because the probability was extremely low.
I personally monitor the weather radar extensively since i am an outdoor cyclist, logging 200-250 miles per week. there was absolutely nothing in the rain forecast in north texas. This rain deluge spring up with less than 2 hour warning.
There may have been less than 2 hours’ warning in north Texas, but there was 24 hours’ warning in central Texas where this happened. And 3 hours’ warning of a flash flood, but as you say it’s unlikely that anyone at the camp would have been monitoring the radio at 1am.
Except that they should have been, given the flood alert that had been issued early the previous morning. Even if they decided at bed time that the risk was low enough to make evacuation unnecessary, they should have had someone monitoring the radio and when the flash flood warning came at 1am they should have roused the campers and evacuated then.
red or blue it doesnt matter
$$$$$$$$$$$ is allocated for public works etc and if they can /will go back and see what the money has been used for over the past decade or so and if it was used properly ..then get to it for KNOWN areas of troubles
if there was misuse of funds that get to it and punish any who need to be punished
same thing when katrina hit etc etc
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