How torrential flooding wrought tragedy at an almost century-old camp for girls in central Texas

By Zoe Sottile, Sarah Dewberry and Ed Lavandera, CNN

(CNN) — As first responders continue to rescue people stranded by the torrential flooding that descended on central Texas Friday, dozens of people are facing a parent’s worst nightmare: Their children are missing.

A total of 27 children were missing as of Saturday evening from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, according to officials. The Christian all-girls camp is located along the Guadalupe River – which rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours overnight into the July Fourth holiday.

The devastating storm took the lives of at least four campers, whose families confirmed their deaths to CNN.

Other families are desperately awaiting news of their loved ones.

Carrie Hanna told CNN her 8-year-old daughter, Hadley, is still missing.

“She is the most joyful, happy kid with a smile on her face,” Hanna said. “She seemed to be loving camp. This was her first year.”

The massive flooding seemed to have ripped the wall off at least one building and left a cabin covered in dirt and mud, with girls’ mattresses strewn across the floor, photos of the devastation show. The water line can be seen nearly reaching the doorway.

Authorities have pledged that they will not rest until all of the missing have been recovered, with search efforts including boats in the river, searches from the air, and crews on the ground. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday promised families of missing campers they would “do everything humanly possible to find” their children.

“Twenty-four-seven, looking at every tree, turning over every rock, whatever it takes – if your child is one of those truly missing and not just out of touch – to find your daughter,” Patrick said.

Over 1,000 local, state and federal personnel are working to comb difficult, waterlogged terrain for the missing, Texas Rep. Chip Roy said Saturday. More than 850 people have been rescued, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a Saturday news conference, including some who were “clinging to trees to save their lives.”

The missing campers are but one element in the sprawling tragedy that struck central Texas, after torrential rain triggered flash flooding in parts of the state Friday. Some parts of Texas saw a month’s rain in just a few hours. At least 43 people are dead, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said Saturday evening. Fifteen of them are children.

The Trump administration is working with state and local officials in Texas to address the devastating flooding, President Donald Trump wrote on social media Saturday. He described the flooding as “shocking” Friday.

What we know about Camp Mystic

Camp Mystic is a private nondenominational Christian summer camp for girls, nestled in Hunt, an unincorporated community in western Kerr County. The camp hosts about 750 kids overall, who can participate in 30 different activities, including archery, canoeing, dancing and fishing.

Founded in 1926, the camp provides a “wholesome Christian atmosphere” and a haven where girls “develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem,” according to its website. The girls at Camp Mystic develop friendships, grow spiritually and strive to “be a better person” and to “let Mystic bring out the best in them,” according to the website.

The current owners, Dick and Tweety Eastland, are the third generation to manage the camp, according to their website. They’ve been at the camp since 1974.

Authorities were in contact with about 18 different summer camps along the Guadalupe River and said Camp Mystic was the only camp with people still unaccounted for as of Friday evening.

27 missing, at least 4 dead

The parents of at least four campers have confirmed their deaths. The mother of missing Camp Mystic camper Janie Hunt, 9, told CNN in a message Saturday morning that her daughter had died.

The families of Sarah Marsh, Lila Bonner, and Renee Smajstrla also told CNN that their daughters died in the flooding. In a post on Facebook, US Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama said she and her husband were “heartbroken over the loss of Sarah Marsh, and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and prayers during this unimaginable time.”

Bonner’s family told CNN in a statement that the 9-year-old has died.

“In the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time,” the family said in a statement. “We ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly for others to be spared from this tragic loss.”

The uncle of 8-year-old Smajstrla described her death as “truly devastating.”

Other family members told CNN they are still awaiting news of their missing campers.

Natalie Landry said her “brave and sweet” 9-year-old daughter Lainey is still missing.

Ellen Toranzo, whose 10-year-old daughter, Greta Toranzo, is missing, told CNN her daughter is “an amazing girl.” Greta is “very smart, sweet, and good at tennis,” she said.

The brother of one missing camper, Blakely McCrory, told CNN his sister is “so loved from everybody around her.” The family also lost their father in March, he said.

“I’m just hoping she comes back home safe,” McCrory said. “Our family has been going through a lot.”

Devastating flooding

The camp is located on the Guadalupe River, where heavy rain swelled two of the river’s forks, city manager Rice said at a news conference Friday.

Storms late Thursday into Friday “dumped more rain than what was forecasted on both of those forks,” Rice said, describing how the river swelled from 7 feet to 29 feet in a short amount of time during the night.

“All of that converged at the Guadalupe, and that’s where we saw those very quick rising floods,” Rice said.

Rice also noted not all areas along the river have alarms to flag flooding. The alarms are typically “further downstream,” he said, in places such as in Comfort, which sits about 15 miles southeast of Kerrville.

A CNN field crew observed some of the destruction at the site, as well as the ongoing search and rescue operations. Trees and building materials were strewn across the grounds, and the roofs of some buildings appeared to be damaged.

Early Friday morning, about 107 game wardens and an aviation group tried to access Camp Mystic, according to officials. Shortly after midday, they were able to enter the camp and start rescuing children.

A US congressman said his two daughters were among those evacuated from the camp. Texas Rep. August Pfluger announced he and his wife were “now reunited” with their daughters in a post on X Saturday.

“The last day has brought unimaginable grief to many families and we mourn with them as well as holding out hope for survivors,” Pfluger wrote.

Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick said the fates of the children still missing are still unclear. “They could be in a tree, they could be out of communication,” he said Friday.

The wardens, part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, were seen with a line of trucks coming into the driveway, photos from their Facebook page show. Children gathered into the beds of the trucks to be evacuated.

14-year-old at nearby camp woke up to flooding

At nearby Camp La Junta, one 14-year-old camper says he woke up to “just a little bit of water” before it became “more and more.”

Wyndham Etheridge told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield Saturday that in the morning, he woke up to people from other parts of the camp coming “to seek refuge” at his cabin.

“We didn’t really know what was going on around us because it was dark. We couldn’t see past the trees. All we really knew is that we needed to move stuff in order for it not to get wet,” he said.

Etheridge and his fellow campers “couldn’t really go anywhere, because around us there were streams, really strong streams converging and we didn’t want to get swept away because of all the runoff from the mountain,” he said.

They then tried to move to the loft of their cabin to escape the water, but Etheridge said “it was leaking up there, so we couldn’t stay.”

“So at some point we just decided … we could go to bed for a little bit, but then we woke up again to more water,” he said.

His parents told Whitfield they received a text message from the camp Friday notifying them of the flood and that their campers were accounted for. They picked up their son last night.

“All those boys were pretty traumatized,” Amy Etheridge said.

Families reunite

School buses and trucks filled with rescued people drove into a reunification center in Ingram, Texas, on Friday as families reunited with their children from the nearby girls’ and boys’ camps.

At Ingram Elementary, families embraced as people lined up around the building and others loaded into an army-style truck.

Some of the children appeared to be emotionally shaken and were heard telling their parents, “I just want to go home.”

Helicopters were seen landing and dropping off campers at the reunification center as yellow school buses arrived, video footage shows.

Director of Heart O’ the Hills camp dies in flooding

Mystic isn’t the only girls’ camp that lost members in the catastrophic flooding. Jane Ragsdale, camp director and co-owner of Heart O’ the Hills in Hunt, Texas, died in the flooding that struck the area overnight, according to an announcement from the camp.

“We at the camp are stunned and deeply saddened by Jane’s death,” reads the announcement. “She embodied the spirit of Heart O’ the Hills and was exactly the type of strong, joyful woman that the camp aimed to develop with the girls entrusted to us each summer.”

The camp, set alongside the Guadalupe River and “right in the path of the flood,” was between sessions at the time of the flooding and “no campers were in residence,” according to the announcement.

The facility sustained “serious damage” that is still being evaluated, the announcement said. The camp will be unable to open for its second session, which was scheduled to start Sunday.

‘We will not stop’

Leitha, the Kerr County sheriff, said first responders will continue to search for “every single person” who is missing in the floods.

“One thing I want to tell you and assure y’all is that we will not stop until every single person is found – we’ve got all the resources we need,” he said during a news conference.

“Tragic incidents like this affect us all. This community is strong and will continue to pull together during this tragic time,” Leitha said. “We have been humbled by the outpouring of support; we are very appreciative everyone that’s stepped up to help us.”

First responder helicopters with infrared technology will be flying overnight in a continued effort to locate any potential rescue victims, a source familiar with the search said.

Gov. Abbott said Saturday the search effort was focused on locating storm survivors.

“My instruction to every state agency involved in this is to assume everybody who is missing is alive,” Abbott said. “And there’s a need for speed, not just every hour, every minute counts, which is why there’s people in the air, people in the water, people on the ground right now, because they’re looking to save every last life.”

“We will be relentless” in the ongoing search for missing people, the governor said.

“We’re not going to stop today or tomorrow,” he said. “We will stop when the job is completed.”

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