July 5, 2025
"[P]arents circulated photos of some of the missing girls, and exchanged hopeful stories that they were hearing about dramatic rescues: girls clinging to trees, or floating downriver to a boys camp five miles away."
"Camp Mystic aims 'to provide young girls with a wholesome Christian atmosphere in which they can develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem,' its website said. It draws from families around Texas and beyond, with the youngest campers entering third grade in the fall.
The camp was established in 1926... and has been run by generations of the same family since the 1930s.... Camp activities include archery, cooking, cheerleading, fishing and a variety of sports. Videos posted to the camp’s Instagram account show large groups of girls participating in group dance performances this summer...."
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66 comments:
The river went from a nearly dry bed to over 30ft high in less than an hour from about 11in of area rain fall.
Imagine the coverage this would be getting if it were a Jewish girls summer camp, and not just a Christian one. Some lives get more coverage than others. Christian deaths and other non-Jewish lives don't seem as valued... Sad, but at least it's a small number of dead kids apparently. We can all live with that. Mutter some condolences and turn away... Act of God, they weren't deliberately targeted at least. Lord have mercy.
Kevin said...
Camp activities include archery, cooking, cheerleading, fishing and a variety of sports.
I see swimming was not included.
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Nobody "swims" in flood waters, friend.
Plus, the writer clearly plucked some of the camp activities from the list he was provided. Archery, cooking, cheerleading, fishing... swimming is listed down with the "s" lettered activities and falls under "a variety of sports".
Hope this helps. YOu new to reading newspapers like the NYT? This is how they cover stories. If you read, you pick up on things like that. I guess it goes over your head if somebody is reading the text to you...
Light a candle for the little ladies. They're not going to find them alive in the trees or at the boys' camp five miles down the road, we adults know...
Poor meadey.
Don't let these dead kids put a damper on his weekend "WINNING!" in yo face celebrations... Did you roast fairies over the fire last night in a s'mores like new-family tradition in the backyard of the BigHouse? Party on, Larry!
Let's step up and raise funds to send some of the men from here down there in a search party.... Larry, whatchoo doing? Can you lead a search and rescue, and devote your manpower to helping? The gutter cleaning and dog poo poo pick up can wait. Your country needs your do-gooder community spirit. Little ladies are dead and dying. Put on your boots, point that truck south, and get down there and help, meadey sweetie? Put your money where your mouth is?
No level of swimming experience would help you in water moving that fast. And on flat land like that, you would have to go really far really quick to escape the water. Probably not a big hill or even a tall building to climb.
RR
JSM
Flash flood. Nature can be catastrophically impulsive.
Every parent’s nightmare.
sad. Flash floods can be deadly.
It's not just the water. The leading edge of a flash flood is a roiling brew of trees and other debris. Comes at you as a sledgehammer. Not uncommon for victims to be found with no water in their lungs. Crushed to death instead of drowning.
It's hard to maintain hope for any of these girls.
We were going to go float the San Marcos tomorrow with friends - I'm guessing that'll be a nonstarter.
The level at Lake Travis has increased 10ft in under a day.
john mosby said...
No level of swimming experience would help you in water moving that fast. And on flat land like that, you would have to go really far really quick to escape the water.
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Look at the pictures.
The youngest campers were in The Flats.
The river is not that wide... had they gotten them out of the cabins -- yes! even in the middle of the night and in the dark! -- and to safer ground like the others, they'd be alive.
This was preventable to anyone with an ounce of safety training. Like the IDF on Oct. 7, the camp authorities were asleep on the job and did not have any forward-thinking skills to forsee what potentially was coming. Poor planning. They got lazy likely from all those years of soft, safe summers with the girls. Children that age shouldn't be camping alongside a river in a camp run like a business, collecting fees per head. They didn't have enough adults per child, it seems, and were not able to save them all.
It's like the Our Lady of Holy Angels fire. The parents and authorities will feel guilty, because they know they failed their kids who were relying on adults to protect them in life.
Leland said...
The level at Lake Travis has increased 10ft in under a day.
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Yeah, that happens in major rainstorms...
"BE PREPARED"
Kevin said...
No level of swimming experience would help you in water moving that fast.
No level? While the odds were clearly stacked against everyone,
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As someone explained upthread, it's not just about keeping your head up to breathe. You are literally "riding" that raging river, sans tube or kayak, and your body is the craft. Position yourself feet first and you can use your legs to potentially protect you from crashing into debris. If you have good body control, you might be able to position your body -- feet first! -- to steer yourself and protect your back and head while trying to get to the banks to grab a tree branch, anything.
The survivors will have found some debris to grab onto to float them, I predict, if survivors are found...
Eight-year-old little girls, like Cub scouts even, don't have the level of survival-skill training to know this, but maybe some will act instinctively and God will watch over them. I pray they went quickly, swept under and taken into the Lord's bosom before they even comprehended the fear and danger they were in...
Odd indeed that a god who was supposedly good and just would allow two dozen innocent children to suffer and die like this.
Camp Mystic was located around 40 miles northwest of San Antonio. I requested annual rainfall data for San Antonio nad got this:
The San Antonio Water System website notes that while the average annual rainfall is around 30 inches, the actual amount can vary widely, with some years receiving as much as 40 inches and others less than 20.
So far this year, the San Antonio region has received about 10 inches, IOWs, the area had been experiencing a drought year which hardens and compacts the soil, contributing to the most destructive and deadly flash flood conditions.
Liberty Mutual is still showing the ad in which LiMu Emu and Doug are stranded on top of their car in the middle of a flood.
RR
JSM
In 2017, near Payson, Arizona, 10 members of an extended Phoenix family were killed in a flash flood. What saved one of the survivors is that he made sure he was traveling down water feet first. It’s instinctual to want to move through the waters head first but if you hit any debris or rocks it will be with your head. His legs were broken but his head was in tact.
“A thunderstorm dumped up to 1.5 inches of rain in an hour, creating a torrent of water, ash, logs, and boulders that roared through the canyon at an estimated 45 mph. Fire Chief Ron Sattelmaier noted, ‘They had no warning. They heard a roar, and it was on top of them.’ (Grok)
“ This is probably one of the most heavily touristed times for the river.”
"Odd indeed that a god who was supposedly good..."
Yes, the age-old atheistic conundrum does tend to reawaken when such natural disasters erupt or when someone visits the St. Jude Hospital -- would a good god permit childhood cancer?
I think the reason such rhetoric is so ineffective on believers is the choice offered, one between fates meaningful and meaningless.
Unk: "Odd indeed that a god who was supposedly good and just would allow two dozen innocent children to suffer and die like this."
JHC: "those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?"
Even the Christian God himself makes no promises about escaping tragedy in this world. Indeed, he jumped in and embraced it for himself.
RR
JSM
“Unknown” had better be looking over his shoulder and covering all points south, for an ironic God might not resist the temptation to…
"It’s instinctual to want to move through the waters head first but if you hit any debris or rocks it will be with your head. His legs were broken but his head was in tact."
I was once forced into survival mode during a whitewater boating accident. I shan't go into that story in detail except to say I saw the accident developing, but couldn't prevent it. I was swept out of my craft and into Class III+ rapids. I came out unharmed by keeping my feet downstream and retaining my paddle, which I used to fend off the worst hazards, such as the mushroom-shaped undercut boulders the size of houses the current dragged me under repeatedly.
Wince: "What about the camp counselors?"
Trying not to indulge in 20-20 hindsight, but the camp owners have been there for 50-some years. They are probably familiar with flash floods. One would think they had a standard plan to evacuate (or at least take a field trip to higher ground) under weather conditions that historically might lead to flooding.
And no, Unknown, evangelicals are probably more likely than most to make detailed contingency plans, since they believe failure to meet one's responsibilities is a sin.
RR
JSM
Unknown wrote: Odd indeed that a god who was supposedly good and just would allow two dozen innocent children to suffer and die like this.
Wait ... isn't this the same God who literally murdered every human being on Earth by deliberately drowning them (well, except Noah and some of his family).
"Or were they making love while the flood waters rose?"
I doubt 11 inches of rainfall in a single night is conducive to lovemaking. Wild weather tends to be distracting.
Making love to the children ithe camp?
You pedos are sickos.
Unknown said...
"Odd indeed that a god who was supposedly good and just would allow two dozen innocent children to suffer and die like this."
Showing in one sentence your total lack of compassion and lack of knowledge of Christianity.
. It’s instinctual to want to move through the waters head first
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?? No it's not.
Your instinct is to protect yourself.
If you're moving at that speed, first your instinct is to position your body to see where you are going. That means butt down in a seated position (the water is moving you along, pushing your body, you have to always "work" with the water, go with the flow, to survive. You'll never "beat" a river or "out force" it. The dummies with their guns on their hips today thinking they are all-protected don't understand force and violence won't save their lives in the end like intelligence and good natural instincts will.)
Good luck. WHen you're out in the river swimming with the current this summer, practice "reading" a river. If you can't do it in the regular current, you'll likely have no chance in faster flood waters...
Has meade collected his supplies and headed the camper truck south to voluneer? As a healthy able-bodied man, I can't imagine how he could sleep at night knowing little girls are out there hurting while he going about with his weekend WIN-NING parties with the fam.
Quaestor: That beats my Norden Chute story by a mile.
Not surprising that a bigot would hide their identity.
incredible flood - and yes - the feel for all, esp. the parents of those missing.
Just awful.
230 people rescued.
Kerr County doesn’t have an early warning system per Fox News despite similar flood in 1987. Lawsuits coming.
"They are probably familiar with flash floods. One would think they had a standard plan to evacuate (or at least take a field trip to higher ground) under weather conditions that historically might lead to flooding."
11 inches of rainfall in a single day is hard to conceive unless you've been through a really nasty storm -- like Hurricane Andrew for instance. The noise alone is difficult to appreciate if you haven't experienced it yourself.
Camp Counselor Tim: There's danger of a flash flood. Let's execute Evacuation Plan A!
Camp Counselor Jane: WHAT?? I can't understand what you're saying...
As Aesop said, it is one thing to propose, another to execute.
"Kerr County doesn’t have an early warning system per Fox News despite similar flood in 1987. Lawsuits coming."
Which I hope fail miserably. Such measures benefit no one except the lawyers who'll get much of the public's money that could be spent on creating that early warning system the public hasn't seen fit to acquire.
I’m not in favor of such lawsuits, but they are coming.
"That beats my Norden Chute story by a mile."
A mile is about as far as the Chattooga carried me before I got out.
It's so sad to think of parents whose child has yet to be found visualizing her as having climbed a tree and waiting there for rescue. But maybe there is a lone survivor, a girl in a tree.
Now is not the time for snarky comments. I live in San Antonio. The weather forecast leading up to the flooding was not predictive. This was a catastrophic event of nature. There is great sorrow in our region.
Kerr country is a beautiful area and along the Guadeloupe is some of the prettiest areas in Texas. We plan to retire there. Yes, even now.
"Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said on Friday afternoon that authorities were searching for 23 girls listed as missing from among more than 750 children at summer camp sites along the banks of the Guadalupe River when the area was inundated by floodwaters at around 4 a.m. local time."
Worst possible time. Probably everyone asleep. No doubt they had moved to higher ground, but it wasn't high enough.
This one's worse than the Albert Pike disaster.
"...Colossal bursts of rain like the ones that caused the deadly flooding in Texas are becoming more frequent and intense around the globe as the burning of fossil fuels heats the planet...."
Or anyways, one can always hope, eh NYT? What absolute pieces of trash, apologies to 'trash' everywhere.
What a tragedy! That’s less than an hour away from our house, we’re currently under a flash flood warning. These floods happen every 20 years or so. One reporter tried to blame a county official, “You knew this flood was coming, why didn’t you…..” Answer, “Nobody knew this was coming, it’s not like a hurricane….” Sounded like a DC media gotcha question.
A 22 year old woman was swept 20 miles down the river from Centerpoint, Tx and later found in a tree by a homeowner who called DPS. She was rescued. Apparently she was part of a family of 5. No word on the rest of her family yet.
Some of the comments are a bit loathsome.
I’m an Assistant Scout Master in a Boy Scout Troop in a part of Dallas where a lot of folks send their kids to mystic. I grew up in the same part of Dallas. I have leaders and parents in my Troop whose daughters are down there right now, as well as other Summer Camps along the Guadalupe. I grew up with some of the other parents whose daughters and granddaughters are at Mystic. While all my Troop’s families are safe, they have lost friends and classmates. It’s just gut-wrenching.
As Adult Scout Leaders, we take special training for hazardous weather and other contingencies. At our fixed camps like Mystic, we have plans in place for shelter and evacuation for storms, fires and other disaster scenarios. But there is not much preparation that can be done for an anomalous freak storm like this. NWS had forecast 2-4” rain, which will lead to manageable flash flooding but not catastrophic. This storm just sat at the headwaters of the Guadalupe, where Mystic is locates on a generally dry branch that feeds into the main branch of the Guadalupe. Hard ground from drought and 4” per hour for 10” total is just overwhelming for the terrain. The missing girls were in a section of camp that got cut off quickly by floodwater while the camp was being evacuated as soon as leaders at the camp got the Urgent Flash Flood warnings and notice to evacuate. It’s tragic, but this is just something that is really hard to prepare for absent of not going at all, which there was no indication that the weather would be this severe last week.
Kevin, do the right thing..remove your shameless post.
I met a Texan on the trail this morning, he had a son in the area who he called to check up on, said his son was fine. We commiserated about the missing girls. Beautiful morning otherwise.
Here's a good explanation as to what happened with forecasting and such: https://theeyewall.com/making-sense-of-the-weather-that-led-to-a-horrible-texas-flooding-tragedy-plus-tropical-storm-chantal/
One of the articles the author cites is helpful for explaining what this part of Texas is like: https://twri.tamu.edu/publications/txh2o/2016/fall-2016/do-you-live-in-flash-flood-alley/
Here is BSA camp in the vicinity with some quick thinking Eagle Scouts.
https://www.facebook.com/1452912520/posts/10230067006926538/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=MlTQtnKXs5f5klw3
Phaedrus said...
Some of the comments are a bit loathsome.
Man, you sure are right about that.
Not as loathsome as the comments on the South Sudan thread. Lots of picking and choosing whose humanity matters (or doesn't) today here.
Ann Althouse said...
It's so sad to think of parents whose child has yet to be found visualizing her as having climbed a tree and waiting there for rescue. But maybe there is a lone survivor, a girl in a tree.
There was video online this morning of some girls being rescued from trees by Texas Army National Guard helicopter crews. It’s hard to tell, but they looked like they were 11+ years old. Many of the missing girls are younger than that, around 8-9 years old. While there is still hope and everyone is doing everything possible to save more girls, the odds get worse with every passing hour.
Not as loathsome as the comments on the South Sudan thread. Lots of picking and choosing whose humanity matters (or doesn't) today here.
Hmmm. Innocent young girls at a camp swept away by a flash flood vs violent illegal aliens facing deportment for being violent illegal aliens.
Yeah. I can see the parallels.
Helicopter rescue video and footage of the flooding.
https://youtu.be/liQWKhSjDRg?feature=shared
Mark said...
"Not as loathsome as the comments on the South Sudan thread. Lots of picking and choosing whose humanity matters (or doesn't) today here."
I'll pick the girls, you can have the guys bound for South Sudan.
Video of the flood taken from a bridge. Thirty minutes until water is a bridge level.
Time lapse video of the flood. Check the timestamp. The flood went from nothing to terrible in just 5 minutes, then continued to get worse. Horrifying.
https://x.com/AZ_Intel_/status/1941611745954451560
Every few years that river claims people enjoying summer without awareness of the risks of flash flooding. I've only ever seen videos of the start of flash floods, but I've seen the torrent produced and that is horrifyingly powerful compared to the placid normal flow.
A time is coming when God will wipe away every tear, and death will be no more, nor will there be sorrow or crying or pain anymore. In the meantime, we rejoice with those who rejoice, and we weep with those who weep.
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