A girl’s summer camp was swept by a “horrible” deluge

Camp Mystic, a Christian girls camp perched on the banks of the Guadalupe river in Texas, was a place of laughter, prayer and adventure just a few days ago.

But just before Daybreak on Friday, July 4, the river increased by 26 feet (8m) in about 45 minutes in the middle of a torrential downpour.

Many girls slept in low cabins at less than 500 feet (150 m) on the shore.

Many of these bunk beds are now sewn with mud and overthrown, the detritus of a summer camp have been tragically short.

The personal effects destroyed are dispersed through soaked interiors where children gathered for a biblical study and campfire songs.

Until now, 78 deaths have been confirmed by the floods in the center of Texas. At least 68, including 28 children, were in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic was.

Among the dead is the longtime director of the camp, Richard “Dick” Eastland, and several young campers. Ten girls and a camp advisor are always missing.

Stella Thompson, 13, was in a cabin on a higher ground when the storms woke her early on Friday.

While the helicopters began to buzz over it, she realized that something was wrong. The girls in his cabin learned that the side of the Camp Guadalupe river was flooded.

“When we had this news, we were all, as hysterical and pray a lot,” Stella told a subsidiary of Dallas NBC.

“And the whole cabin was really, really terrified, but not for ourselves, worried about those on the other side.”

Stella described the “horrible” scenes while she and other survivors were evacuated by military trucks.

“You would see kayaks in the trees … Then there were the first stakeholders in the water that holds the girls.

“And there were huge trees torn from the ground and their roots. And it no longer looked like Camp Mystic.”

Even those on higher terrain were not sure.

Katharine Somerville, an advisor on the side of Lake Cypress most elected from the Mystic Camp, told Fox News on Sunday: “Our cabins at the top of the hills of Tippity were completely flooded with water.

“I mean, you have all seen the full devastation, we never even imagined that it could happen.”

She said that the care campers were all evacuated safely.

The LT of Texas, Governor Dan Patrick, spoke of a heroic camp advisor who broke a window so that the girls in pajamas could swim through the top of their necks.

“These little girls, they swam for about 10 or 15 minutes,” has the Fox & Friends weekend television program.

“Can you imagine, in the darkness and the rushed waters and trees that come by you and the rocks come to you? And then they arrive at a place on the country.”

The rain was flowing on Sunday as the BBC reached the camp.

The entrance was completed by the police and the rubble of what could have been a kind of gateway was scattered through the ground.

More rain is planned, which will make the life effort even more difficult.

Three days after the flood, hope fades and it quickly becomes a recovery exercise more than a rescue mission.

Camp Mystic has been managed by the same family for generations, offering girls a chance to grow “spiritually” in a “healthy” Christian atmosphere, according to its website.

Families from all over Texas, including the state’s political elite, and the more we send their daughters every summer to swim, canoe, ride a horse and train friendships for life.

But the beauty of the Guadalupe river, which attracts it so much in the region, has also proved to be deadly.

The flood waters have arrived with little warning, tearing the picturesque area by the river which houses nearly 20 youth camps.

Although Camp Mystic has undergone the greatest losses, the managers say that the extent of the disaster is large.

Nearby, the HEART Camp of All-Girls O ‘The Hills was also dropped.

His co -owner and director, Jane Ragsdale, was among the dead. Fortunately, the camp was out of session at the time.

An unknown number of other campers was in the region for the holiday weekend.

The questions are going up on the reasons why so many camps were located so close to the river, and why no longer was made to evacuate children in time.

The member of the Congress Chip Roy, who represents the region, recognized devastation while urging caution against premature blame.

“The answer will be:” We have to move all these camps – why would you have camps here by water? “” Said Roy.

“Well, you have camps by the water because it is at the water’s edge. You have camps near the river because it is a beautiful and wonderful place.”

The families of the disappeared, on the other hand, face a scary wait for the news. Research and rescue teams – Some sailing by boat, others shaking through debris – work 24 hours a day.

The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, promised Sunday that the mission “would stop at nothing” until each missing person is found.

As for Stella, she takes some comfort in her sorrow of a poem which was taught by the mystical leaders of the camp.

“A bell is not a bell until you are.

“A song is not a song before singing it.

“Love in your heart was not put there to stay.

“Love is not love until you didn’t give it.”