As the floodwaters recede from Camp Mystic, a torrent of grief remains for the families of the children who died and those who went missing when flash floods tore through central Texas earlier this week
As the floodwaters began to recede from Camp Mystic, a torrent of grief remained as the identities of some of the campers who died in the flash floods began to emerge on Saturday.
At least 43 people, including 15 children, died in Kerr County after a storm unleashed nearly a foot (0.3 meters) of rain on Friday and sent floodwaters gushing out of the Guadalupe River through the hilly region known for its century-old summer camps. Another eight people died in nearby counties.
State officials said 27 girls from Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian camp for girls in Hunt, Texas, still were unaccounted for about 36 hours after the flood.
An 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp just up the road were among those confirmed dead Saturday.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who toured the camp Saturday with rescue crews, vowed that authorities will work around the clock to find the missing girls and others swept away in the storm that caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise.
Many more are still missing, and authorities said about 850 people had been rescued so far.
The National Weather Service said a flood watch would remain in effect for the Hill Country region through late Saturday night.
The camp was established in 1926. It grew so popular over the following decades that families are now encouraged to put prospective campers on the waitlist years in advance.
Photos and videos taken before the flood are idyllic, showing large cabins with green-shingled roofs and names like “Wiggle Inn,” tucked among sturdy oak and cypress trees that grow on the banks of the Guadalupe River. In some social media posts, girls are fishing, riding horses, playing kickball or performing choreographed dance routines in matching T-shirts. Girls ranging in age from 8 to 17 years old pose for the camera with big smiles, arms draped across the shoulders of their fellow campers.
But the floodwaters left behind a starkly different landscape: A pickup truck is balanced precariously on two wheels, its side lodged halfway up a tree.
