Two Camp Mystic counselors from Mexico recounted what it was like to survive the recent Texas flooding that killed more than 100 people.
As the deadly floods in Texas took place over the Fourth of July weekend along the Guadalupe River, two counselors from Camp Mystic — an all-girls Texas Christian youth camp — had to put on a brave face as they watched their campers.
Silvana Garza Valdez and María Paula Zárate, 19-year-old camp counselors from Mexico, recalled the events during the deadly disaster that killed more than 100 people, including 27 campers and counselors, in an interview with NMás Saturday.
In the very early morning hours of July 4, Zárate first heard the torrential downpour that prevented her from sleeping and at 3 a.m. the electricity went out throughout the Hunt, Texas, camp. At midday, the counselors were informed that girls from another section of the camp had been caught in the flooding and that the surviving girls were safely relocated in a camp dining hall.
Realizing the severity of the situation and seeing that the survivors from the other part of the camp were evacuated via helicopter, Zárate and Garza Valdez began preparing the campers under their supervision.
“We began writing the girls’ names on their skin, wherever it could be visible,” Zárate said.
