“The camp was completely destroyed,” said 13-year-old Elinor Lester, who was staying at the site. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”
Lester said a raging storm woke up her cabin about 1.30am, and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as the children in her cabin walked across a bridge with floodwaters whipping around their calves and knees.
Camp Mystic said in an email to parents that if they had not been contacted directly, their child was accounted for.
A helicopter flies over the flooded Guadalupe River.Credit: AP
Referring to the message at a news conference, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said: “That does not mean [the missing children] have been lost. They could be out of communication.”
In a statement from the camp read by Patrick, campsite staff said they had experienced “catastrophic levels of flooding” and that they have “no power, water or Wi-Fi”.
Patrick said the Guadalupe River had risen about eight metres in 45 minutes, and warned of the further risk of flooding in west and central Texas.
The New York Times reported parents sharing photos of some of the missing girls on social media and text, and exchanging hopeful reports of dramatic rescues: girls clinging to trees, or floating downriver to a boys’ camp eight kilometres away.
But dozens of families shared in local Facebook groups that they received devastating phone calls from safety officials informing them that their daughters had not yet been located among the washed-away camp cabins and fallen trees.
Dalton Rice, city manager for the local town of Kerrville, told reporters the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing any evacuation orders.
Search teams were flying 14 helicopters and a dozen drones over the area, in addition to hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground conducting rescues from trees and swift-flowing water. Federal and US Coast Guard personnel were assisting local authorities, officials said.
Onlookers survey damage along the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area.Credit: AP
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One at the end of a day of public events for the July 4 holiday, President Donald Trump described the floods as “shocking” and “terrible”.
“We’ll take care of them”, he said when asked about federal aid for the disaster.
On its website, Camp Mystic describes itself as “on the banks of the beautiful Guadalupe River” and aiming “to provide young girls with a wholesome Christian atmosphere in which they can develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem”.
The camp has been running for almost 100 years and attracts families from Texas and beyond, with the youngest campers entering in year 3. Its Instagram account features videos of large groups of girls taking part in dance performances this summer.
The area is home to several other summer camps, including Camp La Junta for boys, about 8 kilometres from Camp Mystic. The boys’ camp told families that all of its campers were safe and fed, but they could not be evacuated until about 7pm US Central Time on Friday (Saturday AEST).
Water rises from severe flooding along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas on Friday.Credit: AP
“Everybody is doing everything in their power to get these kids out,” Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top elected local official, told a news briefing. He said scattered residential areas, recreational vehicle parks and campsites were the hardest hit.
At an elementary school in the nearby town of Ingram, which was being used as a reunification centre, more than a hundred people milled around a courtyard, hoping to see their loved ones step out of buses dropping off those who had been evacuated.
One young girl wearing a Camp Mystic T-shirt stood in a puddle in her white socks, sobbing in her mother’s arms as she rubbed her hands together and watched the buses arrive.
Camp Mystic sits on a strip known as “flash flood alley”, said Austin Dickson, chief executive of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, a charity that is collecting donations to help with the disaster response.
“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It rushes down the hill.”
Reuters, AP
