 "Stuffed animals sit in a windowsill at Camp Mystic after a deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, US. Reuters")
It used to be a place of fun, laughter and adventure until a few days ago. Now, a pall of gloom and anxiety shrouds Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas after catastrophic and deadly floods swept through the state on Friday.
The flash floods, which are still unfolding in the American state, has led to massive death and destruction — 78 people, including 28 children, are dead. Another 41 are missing, which includes 10 girls and a counsellor from Camp Mystic.
And it’s not over yet. Officials say the death toll will rise as more storms are expected in the next one-two days, which will further hamper the rescue teams, who are contending with venomous snakes as they sift through mud and debris.
Storied history of Camp Mystic
The camp site , which has now been washed away by the powerful flash floods, was first opened in 1926 by University of Texas coach EJ “Doc” Stewart. Initially known as Stewart’s Camp for Girls, it focused on outdoor activities and various skills like roping, marksmanship and arts.
In 1939, Camp Mystic was purchased by Agnes Stacy and her husband “Pop” Stacy. They and their children — Anne Stacy Eastland Spears and William Gillespie Stacy Jr — ran the camp continuously until World War II when it became a centre for veterans to recover from their war injuries.
Today, Camp Mystic is run by Dick and Tweety Eastland — the third generation to run it.
Over the years, Camp Mystic became overly popular — it even hosted the daughter of former US President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Floods turn Camp Mystic into a nightmare
Until Friday (July 4), Camp Mystic was a picture of happiness — 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. Videos showed girls fishing, playing in the water, and performing dances in matching T-shirts.
However, this sense of tranquillity was destroyed as water from the river surged owing to the flash floods, washing out the cabins in which the little girls were asleep. As of now, 10 girls and a counsellor are missing, while other parents have confirmed that their girls have died in the deluge. The ones confirmed dead have been named as nine-year-old Lila Bonner, Janie Hunt (9), Sarah Marsh (8), Eloise Peck (8), and Renee Smajstrla (9).
An analysis by the New York Times reveals that several of the girls missing were in the low-lying cabins where junior and intermediate campers lived, less than 500 metres from the river bank. The senior campers were farther away from the river on an area called ‘Senior Hill’.
Survivor Elinor Lester, 13, was among the older girls housed on elevated ground known as Senior Hill at the camp. “The camp was completely destroyed. It was really scary,” she told the newspaper.
The New York Post also reports that Chloe Childress (18), a counsellor at Camp Mystic, was killed when floodwaters tore through the camp while trying to save the younger girls. She died upholding a “selfless and fierce commitment to others,” Jonathan Eades, head of school at Kinkaid School in Houston, from where Chloe had just graduated, wrote in a statement.
Describing the moment the floods hit the camp, 13-year-old Stella Thompson told the BBC that as helicopters began buzzing overhead, she realised something was dreadfully wrong. “When we got that news, we were all, like, hysterical and praying a lot,” Stella said.
Stella described the “horrific” scenes as she and other survivors were evacuated by military trucks. “You’d see kayaks in trees… then there was first responders in the water pulling out girls. And there were huge trees ripped out of the ground and their roots. And it didn’t look like Camp Mystic anymore.”
Chloe Crane, a teacher and former Camp Mystic counsellor, said her heart broke when a fellow teacher shared an email from the camp about the missing girls. Speaking to the Associated Press, she said: “To be quite honest, I cried because Mystic is such a special place, and I just couldn’t imagine the terror that I would feel as a counsellor to experience that for myself and for 15 little girls that I’m taking care of. And it’s also just sadness, like the camp has been there forever and cabins literally got washed away.”
In addition to the campers, owner Dick Eastland has also died, said his grandson, while trying to rescue campers. “If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way — saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” said his grandson, George Eastland. “That’s the kind of man my grandfather was. He was a husband, father, grandfather, and a mentor to thousands of young women. Although he no longer walks this earth, his impact will never fade in the lives he touched.”
Scott Ruskan, a 26-year-old Coast Guard rescue swimmer, who arrived at Camp Mystic as part of the rescue team also described the scenes he encountered as he reached the site of the camp. “Kids were in pajamas — some terrified, some wanting comfort, someone to save them.”
Authorities have vowed to recover all the missing individuals from the camp with Lt Governor Dan Patrick promising 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.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who visited the Camp Mystic site on Saturday, said it had been “horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster”.
Texas sees large-scale destruction and devastation
Apart from Camp Mystic, the flash floods have caused wide-scale destruction across central Texas with the death toll now reaching nearly 80. A camp situated near Camp Mystic, Heart O’ the Hills, was also deluged. Its co-owner and director, Jane Ragsdale, was among the dead. Fortunately, the camp was out of session at the time.
Scientists say that in recent years human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense.
But, amid the search and rescue mission, questions are also being raised about whether adequate flood warnings were provided and why people weren’t evacuated ahead of the deluge.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration on Sunday for Kerr County, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Texas. He also said he would probably visit the state on Friday. “We’re working very closely with representatives from Texas, and it’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,” Trump said on Sunday in New Jersey.
With inputs from agencies