A summer camp has spoken of an “unimaginable tragedy” as it said at least 27 girls – some as young as eight – and their counselors were among the victims of the Texas flash flood disaster.
Two eight-year-old sisters from Dallas and a beloved soccer coach and teacher were confirmed to be among the 82 dead on Monday as searches resumed for dozens of missing.
President Donald Trump has signed a major disaster declaration, and plans to visit the scene later this week – though he has declined to comment on his plans to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The floods tore through Kerr County and surrounding areas in the early hours of July 4, with water levels reaching up to 34 feet, according to NOAA.
“Camp Mystic is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors following the catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe river,” an online statement read. “Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly.”
Ten girls from Camp Mystic remained missing as of Monday. In its statement, the camp added that “extensive resources” had been deployed.
“We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level,” the statement read. “We ask for your continued prayers, respect and privacy for each of our families affected. May the Lord continue to wrap His presence around all of us.”
Established in 1962, Camp Mystic is a private Christian summer camp for girls that is located on the banks of the Guadalupe River and 18 miles northwest of Kerrville, Texas.
One camper, rescued from the scene, was 13-year-old Stella Thompson, from Dallas, who said she and others were "hysterical" when they learned other campers had been lost in flooding. “It didn't look like Camp Mystic anymore,” she told NBC5.
“I think while it was going on I sort of felt a numbness,” said Thompson, who was enjoying her sixth summer at the camp. “Saying it out loud is making me realize what actually happened and how bad it actually is.”
She added: “Eventually, when we got that news, we were all kind of hysterical, and the whole cabin was praying a lot and terrified – but not for ourselves.”
Thompson and her friends were eventually evacuated by military trucks. She told NBC that huge trees had been uprooted, with vehicles and girls' camp trunks and clothes flung across the area.
Another harrowing account was given by 16-year-old Callie McAlary, who described how, as the water got higher and higher, she prepared for the worst-case scenario.
"I put on my name tag because I was scared that if water was coming out next to other cabins that our cabin might be next,” the teen toldFox News. “And I just put it on just for safekeeping… in my head I was saying, 'if something does happen, and I do get swept away, at least I'll have my name on my body.’”
Some of the girls who died at Camp Mystic have been named online by their families. They include eight-year-old Sara Marsh, from Alabama, and Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, eight-year-old twin sisters from Dallas.
On Saturday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited the camp, saying that it “horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster.”
“The height the rushing water reached to the top of cabins was shocking,” he wrote on X. “We won’t stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins.”
The region is bracing for yet more heavy rainfall Monday, as much as 10 inches, which may complicate ongoing search efforts.
There are reports of an additional “wall of water” heading toward Kerr County, Nim Kidd, Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said at a Sunday afternoon press conference.
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