Althouse: "'Okay, we’re going to go out,' she told the girls around 3 a.m., but the first in line, a 9-year-old, was afraid to jump."

July 12, 2025

"'Okay, we’re going to go out,' she told the girls around 3 a.m., but the first in line, a 9-year-old, was afraid to jump."

"So out Ainslie [Bashara, a counselor at Camp Mystic] leaped, and when her bare feet touched the ground, the water, rushing past with such force it felt like rapids, crested at her waist. If the girl had gone first, Ainslie realized, she would have been swept away. Stunned by the cold, Ainslie caught her balance as her co-counselors inside kept the girls calm and coaxed them through the window. The pair eased the first girl out to Ainslie, then a second, then a third. All of them were crying. They clung to Ainslie — her arms, back, waist, hair — as the former dancer slogged through the current toward a dry pavilion about 30 yards away.... She dropped off the first set of campers, told them to wait, and returned to Giggle Box, repeating the trip until the cabin was empty...."

From "In the dark, amid screams, a Camp Mystic counselor had 16 girls and one headlamp/As the Texas floodwaters rushed into their cabins, the teen counselors braved the unknown" (WaPo)(free access link).

33 comments:

boatbuilder said...: Not sure why "...the former dancer..." is relevant, but she's a hero.; 7/12/25, 8:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Not sure why "...the former dancer..." is relevant..."

I read it as a statement about the type of body she has — strong and adept — and that explained something about how she could move through the water with 3 girls clinging to her. She was physically trained.; 7/12/25, 8:16 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Makes me think of Shelley Long in "Outrageous Fortune" jumping and taunting "9 years of ballet, asshole!"; 7/12/25, 8:21 AM
David53 said...: Hero. Leader. Protector.; 7/12/25, 8:26 AM
John Borell said...: I too read it as explaining her athleticism and her fortitude. The young woman is a hero.; 7/12/25, 8:32 AM
Dave Begley said...: “ Bow your heads. We’re going to pray,” the chattering teens told their girls. They asked God to make them brave and pleaded with Him to help their friends.”

“Pray as if everything depended upon God, but work as if everything depended upon you.” St. Ignatius Loyola.

An exceptionally well-written news story. Thanks, Ann!; 7/12/25, 8:34 AM
David53 said...: “As the helicopter ascended, the few counselors who still had phones soon began to receive cell service.”

Apparently no cell service at the camp.; 7/12/25, 8:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "An exceptionally well-written news story."

The author is John Woodrow Cox

"John Woodrow Cox is an enterprise reporter at The Washington Post and the author of Children Under Fire: An American Crisis. In 2018, his series about the impact of gun violence on children in America was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. He was also part of the team of Post journalists awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol."; 7/12/25, 8:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Apparently no cell service at the camp."

There can still be emergency coverage where there is no cell service: https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1944029581213659574; 7/12/25, 8:45 AM
Phaedrus said...: “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

The strength and bravery is not limited to just young girls and ladies of faith at a Christian retreat. I’ve no doubt that non-believers would act in the same way in same circumstanced as we see the world over when disaster strikes. It’s the nature of humanity.

Then again, God works through the least among us, sometimes unwitting non-believers. He never promised us that life would be easy and painless, only that salvation is at hand.

So many people down there, both dead and living are true heroes. I pray all find comfort.; 7/12/25, 8:49 AM
john mosby said...: “ John Woodrow Cox”

Hehheheh…she said Woodrow! And cox!….

RR
JSM; 7/12/25, 8:52 AM
Aggie said...: "..There can still be emergency coverage where there is no cell service:..."

Whatever it is, this can't be read without a Twitter / X account.; 7/12/25, 8:56 AM
Temujin said...: Well written, painting a very clear picture of the horror they faced. And yes- that she was a dancer is key. She had the strong legs to stand up to the current at that time and place. Just a horrible sequence of events.

And...there was an alarm system that could have been sent signaling a flash flood warning, to move immediately. But it wasn't sent. And I'm not sure they would have received a signal there anyway. A giant awful tragedy.; 7/12/25, 9:00 AM
Aggie said...: ..."Not sure why "...the former dancer..." is relevant..."

She's skinny and strong and flexible - perfectly suited to minimize drag and facilitate moving through rushing water.; 7/12/25, 9:08 AM
Big Mike said...: Ainslie Bashara is a Texas woman — if she’d been a California girl they’d all be dead.; 7/12/25, 9:09 AM
Reddington said...: Absolutely incredible; 7/12/25, 9:10 AM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: As the father of a camp-age girl, I ache for those parents who lost kids in that Texas flood. Yet I'm also a Geologist who, by long habit, does things like look at maps.

Before I bought my wonderful farm in the Kansas River flood plain, I determined that the homestead had never actually been threatened by the four worst floods of the 20th Century [1951, 1993, 1903, and 1935]. I looked at aerial photos, and the old channel scars showed how the river had been moving [during major floods], and could see that the threat was diminishing.

When I finally looked at the geomorphologic setting of that Texas camp, I actually got angry. For a *century* that camp has been sitting on the wide "cut-bank" of a river known for significant and periodically violent flooding. Certainly deep within what we call the 100-yr flood zone.

I do not fault the camp in any way, not unless I see information that I'll not be seeking.

HOWEVER ... this was a rather "high-end" camp, far beyond my means. However, we're talking about TEXAS, where wealthy oil geologists are as common as homeless drug addicts in Frisco, LA, and NYC.

How did it happen that in a *hundred years not one of these geologist-parents made a fuss about siting issues?? Certainly, were I able to afford to send my daughter to that camp, one glance at the map would have made it an immediate solid NO. Even worse ... what if they did comment and it was ignored repeatedly ?

All I know is that there is absolutely no reason why, in 2025, that camp should still have been in the same highly-hazardous geomorphologic / hydrologic situation it was in.

It quite definitely should not be allowed to reopen until moved to far safer ground.; 7/12/25, 9:24 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Those young ladies are heroes of the highest order.; 7/12/25, 10:06 AM
Vonnegan said...: Thank you for posting this piece, Ann. It's beautiful.

Bart, I've seen maps on an A&M forum that suggest that part of the camp was in the floodway - not the 100 year or 500 year floodplain, but the actual floodway. I agree the fact that everyone keep going to all of these camps (see the destruction at Heart O Hills - it's gone from what I understand) for ~100 years seems insane in retrospect. This counselor's father is a custom home builder, one of the girls lost from Houston was the daughter of the Bellows Construction family - did folks like that ever stop and think "I wouldn't build a potting shed on that site, so why would I send my kids there?" It's so unbelievably sad.

As a Texan I have to tell y'all that this tragedy consumed us all for more than a week. It's everywhere. My neighbor was swept away, the cleaning lady came yesterday and said one of her clients lost a child - everywhere you look you're connected somehow to these people and their loss. It's almost unbearable.

I said this on another post but I want to say again - do check out the Texas Monthly pieces on the flood. They're outdoing themselves this time. There's so many good articles, including an old one from 1974 on the camps themselves that you can't miss.

Peace y'all.; 7/12/25, 10:14 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: This passage in the article illuminates how the tragedy at Camp Mystic unfolded:

‘They always left the windows open to keep the cabin cool, and now, as Ainslie lay on her bed, she noticed older kids from another cabin running up the road with blankets and pillows.

“Are we staying or leaving?” she yelled through the window.
“Stay in your cabin!” she recalled a staff member shouting back.’

It appears a decision of a sort was made to evacuate some cabins but not others. The Giggle Box girls might have survived if they had stayed put. We’re told “Banana the monkey was safe on a top bunk.” We also know that the girls who stayed in the Bubble Inn cabin all drowned.

Ainslie made the right decision to ignore what she was told and evacuate. The person who pulled the screens off the cabin windows should also get credit.

This part of the story also muddies the waters as to whether the camp got timely warning. Maybe they did.; 7/12/25, 10:16 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: We all like to think we would be brave if caught in a dangerous situation like this, but the truth is nobody knows until put in that position. Ainslie Bashara is a hero.; 7/12/25, 11:02 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: IRC, the head of the camp died trying to save some girls. Lots of heroism. Good that many were saved. Doubt I would be as brave.; 7/12/25, 11:17 AM
Vonnegan said...: Left Bank of the Charles, if you look at the "inside a cabin" picture here: https://www.campmystic.com/facilities/cabins/ you can see what this cabin (Giggle Box) and the next door cabin (Wiggle Inn) looked like. They had a vaulted ceilings, and in Wiggle Inn the night watchman floated all the campers on their mattresses into that vault and saved them all. The Giggle Box girls were evacuated as set forth in this article. The girls who were lost came from Twins and Bubble Inn; both of those cabins had flat ceilings inside. From what I've heard, the girls were swept away while trying to get out of the cabin - water at that point was coming in from more than one direction. You can see in these pictures how high the water was in the flat-ceilinged cabins; I don't know if they would have made it if they've stayed inside: https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2025/07/05/camp-mystic-photos-texas-flood/84479849007/; 7/12/25, 11:22 AM
loudogblog said...: This whole thing was so preventable.

The area was prone to flooding.
There were no alarms.
There were probably no planned escape routes and drills.
The people in charge actually turned off their cell phones.
There was no requirement for someone to regularly check the weather for flood warnings.; 7/12/25, 12:00 PM
Christopher B said...: The terms 'cell service' or 'cell coverage' are often used to describe two similar but distinct situations.

If your phone can establish a minimal connection to a cell tower, the tower operator is obligated to enable you to make 911 calls even if they have no contractual agreement to enable more extensive services.

If your phone can't, for whatever physical reason, establish a connection to a cell tower you might as well be carrying a brick.; 7/12/25, 12:35 PM
n.n said...: Earthquake faults, tornado alleys, hurricane coasts, toxic railways, sex and conception, back hole penetration, etc. Inherently risky. People do it anyway.

That said, good karma to those who rose above their station to meet the challenges of life.; 7/12/25, 12:41 PM
n.n said...: New Orleans.; 7/12/25, 1:02 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Vonnegan ... it's truly complex, but part of the problem is that "nature" is increasingly understood only within an intellectual framework, not the reality.

My great-grandfather and his crew were the only Connecticut fishers to survive the 1938 hurricane, which was a Cat 5. At 77 yo, with decades at sea, he did not like the look of the sky, nor the feel of the air. Then he could actually *watch* the barometer fall. He then ordered his men to cut the oyster drag lines and red-lined the diesel, heading for port. As he cleared the breakwater, seas were 8 feet. Over 700 fishers died that day.

In my own life, I've been on a northern Canadian lake 500 miles past the end of the nearest road, and attempting to get my heavily-laden canoe [wife's rock samples (she's also a geologist)] plus my wife and 2 yo son trying to get to an Assiniboine village for shelter in the face of a fast-approaching and raging autumn storm. Dropped wife and kid in a slightly sheltered embayment, knowing that she could get the two of them to the village cross-country.

I continued into 3-4 ft waves, swept widely around the key point -- small-craft time on the ocean teaches you a lot -- and safely into the village. They all asked "What if you had dumped?" ... "Well I'd have swum to shore." They were shocked, since not one of them knew how to swim.

I suspect many of the survivors were strong swimmers. I've swum in a big flash flood [New Mexico] to save a life, but nothing intellectual will prepare you for that.; 7/12/25, 1:26 PM
Tina Trent said...: Let this be a searing lesson to all the assholes who incontinently dump on women on this site.; 7/12/25, 2:58 PM
Howard said...: Nice story, Bart. I didn't know that you were a geologist. That's a dated term I think now they call them earth scientists. Thanks for pointing out that swimming is such an important skill.

Gemini AI: Drowning is a leading cause of death for children, particularly those aged 1-4. For children aged 1-4, drowning is the leading cause of death. Among children aged 5-14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death, following motor vehicle crashes. Approximately 900 children and adolescents aged 0-19 die each year from unintentional drowning. This translates to an average of 3 drowning deaths per day.; 7/12/25, 3:41 PM
Howard said...: I'm with you, Tina. My daughter's water polo teammates and competitors in HS and college were strong, smart and hard working girls. I remember one of the girls went on to run the local Beach Junior lifeguard program and was also one of the more senior Beach lifeguards. She was involved in a fatal drowning recovery operation in which she had to swim and retrieve a body from a particularly nasty spot between steamers Lane and its Beach called the toilet bowl. A place that has claimed many lives.

Her basketball peers were just as awesome and well rounded. I don't get the women bashing either. Getting hitched to a strong smart hardworking woman is how you get the most outstanding children possible. That's how you attain Alpha status.; 7/12/25, 3:53 PM
Ralph L said...: Little girls need to man up in a crisis. Has any famous female since Jane Austen preached the virtues of self-command versus self-indulgence?; 7/12/25, 4:02 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Tina and Howard ... agree totally about the dissing on women so common on this site; bizarre in the context of who hosts this blog.

For a touch of inspiration, that wife of mine was a Geologist in the 1960s. Her mother was the second woman ever commissioned as a regular officer in the US military [Navy], early in WWII. When she died in 1986 she received full honors at Arlington, including the 200-piece Navy band and 21 guns. We have a hand-written note from Reagan that her skill, dedication to duty, and command presence demonstrated clearly that women belonged in our armed forces.

Her mother before her? Earned her MD in 1901 and established a successful practice in Pittsburgh. Long line of pioneering and successful women.

And why was I attracted to such a strong woman 60 years ago? Well my mother was a linguistic scholar who earned a Masters from Columbia in 1941 and managed the Yale Law School Library through the '40s as she waited, hoping, for my father to come back from the war.

And *his* mother? She argued her way into courses at MIT and earned a degree in Mathematics in 1910. With family cultures like that ... neither of us thought it at all odd that I was immediately attracted to the 16 yo, obviously quite competent with a compass and mapping, during the first lab of Geology 101 during our first term at a little Vermont school called Middlebury.; 7/12/25, 8:32 PM