TX TX-Hunt, Overnight flooding at Camp Mystic, all girls camp. Unknown number of missing. July 4, 2025

[CrimeDawg123]

"The crux of this disaster is a failure of the last mile of communication,” Fahy said. “The forecasts went out, they communicated the forecasts, they disseminated the watches and warnings. And the dilemma we have is there was nobody listening at 4 o’clock in the morning for these watches and warnings.”

Ample warnings. This is clearly a failure of camp management IMO. Sad to say.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/07/texas-flood-forecasts-accuracy-lives-lost-00441068

 

[musicaljoke]

Hear me out. Rain in Texas is feast or famine. When it rains, it usually floods. These properties on the Guadalupe river are generational, having been there since being settled and ranched, certainly before any flood plain maps.

I know it seems crazy for there to be a kids camp there, but honestly, where else would it be? These are beautiful slices of heaven in an unforgiving landscape. We usually have rain around the 4th of July, and it usually is the last rain for months - the spigot literally shuts off. When it does, temperatures soar to 100F and beyond, the land becomes dry as a bone, it's a hellscape. There is literally nowhere else you'd want to be but by one of the clear, beautiful, cypress lined rivers of the Texas Hill Country. I would send my kid to a camp there in a heartbeat.

Yep, I agree that it is crazy to have a kids camp on a flood plain. I say that it is criminal.

Texas is a large state. I can't believe that there is nowhere else to establish a kids camp. It would be best to leave the flood plains to nature.

 

[OddOneOut]

There are dams. Many, many dams! Rivers in Texas generally flow from the northwest to the southeast, into the Gulf of Mexico. The Guadalupe river flows southeast into Canyon Lake and beyond. Flooding happens regularly on this river on either side of the dam.

The only way to have ample drinking water and some sort of flood control in the Texas Hill Country is by using dams to collect floodwaters. The key thing to understand is that there is so much water that, even dammed, the rivers still flashflood. It's unavoidable given the terrain, lack of top soil, and source of water from the Gulf of Mexico. The flooding, however terrible, is a blessing for the supply of drinking water.

Another thing I think might be getting missed here is the widespread area of flooding that happened over the weekend. From the Guadalupe River near Kerrville to the Llano River 60 miles or so north, from Mason to the west 100+ miles or so to east of Georgetown and Austin. Many, many creeks and rivers flooded over a huge area. We're hearing about the Guadalupe because of so many deaths there, but it was bad everywhere.

Thank you. This is the best explanation I have seen.

What I still don't understand is that knowing they were in an area that floods easily and with heavy rain coming, why they didn't move the girls closest to the river up to the higher cabins. They could have taken their mattresses and slept on them on the floor. It would have been a reasonable precaution and given them more time to evacuate if necessary. I realize they weren't expecting 10 inches.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1942285677057495041

"The stench of death
still hangs over the Guadalupe River,
three days after the watercourse burst its banks.

Most of the victims were swept away in the early hours of Friday morning
after the river rose 23ft in a matter of minutes.

Alerts
that should have woken them to the impending danger never arrived,
with many in areas with no signal
or with alarms that didn't sound.

‘There were no warnings on my phone
until about eight in the morning
which is long after this happened',
said a man who lives in Ingram."

 

[CrimeDawg123]

I wouldn't send my kids to a camp with cabins in a regulatory floodway knowing this. It's not something I would have thought of before, but I am now. I looked up all the camps in my kids' council on the FEMA site and none of them have cabins even in a Zone A. They have natural water but seemed to have intentionally not built in the flood plain areas. Just the way that the land juts out and is completely surrounded by regulatory floodways, I don't know how it was even legal to build on it, it looks so dangerous. It might be a hundred year old camp, but I doubt the cabins were.

Yep, I agree that it is crazy to have a kids camp on a flood plain. I say that it is criminal.

Texas is a large state. I can't believe that there is nowhere else to establish a kids camp. It would be best to leave the flood plains to nature.

I completely understand and respect where y'all are coming from. I really do. I hope in your lifetime you can visit and experience the area. It's a magical, and for many a very spiritual, place.

The Beauty and the Danger of the Guadalupe River

Generations of Texans gather at the river’s stunning headwaters, which have been carved by cycles of catastrophic floods.

www.texasmonthly.com

 

[CrimeDawg123]

Thank you. This is the best explanation I have seen.

What I still don't understand is that knowing they were in an area that floods easily and with heavy rain coming, why they didn't move the girls closest to the river up to the higher cabins. They could have taken their mattresses and slept on them on the floor. It would have been a reasonable precaution and given them more time to evacuate if necessary. I realize they weren't expecting 10 inches.

Yes, I think this is the question. Other camps did exactly that.

 

[IceIce9]

Though I am sure more dams could help (I don't know how popular they would be), flash floods are always more severe in dry areas as there is less soil to soak up the water and less vegetation with deep roots to hold back water. Rainwater can then start to flow very quickly. Though the Texas Hill Country is not a desert per se, it is dry with thin soil.

Then factor in the nature of the Guadalupe "River"....

The idea of a largely freely flowing Guadalupe is historical to Texas, thus probably less support for extensive dams and dikes. In the eastern states the River would be called the Guadalupe "Creek".

Any extensive flood control dams etc. would probably turn the Guadalupe River into the "Guadalupe Semi Drained Culvert" pretty fast. That would not fly in Texas.

A recent flood control project in a city near where I live was not popular. Large, tall, ugly floodwalls are being installed upriver from the area that floods.

So the people who paid premium prices for their homes that are on the river will lose their beautiful views in order to prevent flooding to an area downriver. The area where the tall floodwalls are being installed is not the area that floods.

The people who live in the area that floods will not have their views of the river affected.

So this is a controversial project, as many flood control projects seem to be.

 

[Stunned]

As a mother, grandie and an aunt/ great aunt who had my babies involved in the WNC Helene disaster, I took great offense then and now with the blame game. Those who know me know who I blame, this is NOT the time for politics. This is the time for grace and prayers to whoever you pray to, for the families and their lost ones.

 

[Sweeper2000]

must have swept downriver like that scene from the lord of te rings for evryone to get caught so unawares. poor little lassies.

 

[sunflowermomma]

Just the absolute worst weekend for this to happen with so many out for the holiday, at summer camp or RV camping or tent camping. Do the drive-up camping spots in TX require you to pre-register or sign in when you drive in? I feel like there's no way for them to get a true count of how many people were in the area in such rural and recreational terrain....what about the retired folks that like to go fishing or camping solo who may not have notified anyone where they would be? Just heartbreaking. Of course all MOO

 

[Chimera]

From the DM link :

Dad who found dead boy in search for missing daughter gets awful news

Ty Badon was searching for his daughter Joyce Catherine at the epicenter of the carnage in Hunt, Texas, over the weekend when he stumbled across the harrowing sight.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Obviously the tree has been sectioned with a chainsaw for easier access for the rescue teams.
Trying to understand what the photo is showing... but it appears that the force of the water was so fierce that it "de-barked" (Is that the correct term ? Tia.) the tree ?
Holy cow if so.
Those poor kids and adults had no chance.

Also another time-lapse from the NYP, of the swiftness of the flood :

Kudos to the videographer-- I wouldn't have wanted to stand on that bridge !
The sound of fully mature tall trees snapping and breaking was freaking chilling.
Imo.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1942307260975247484

"Scott Ruskan, a New Jersey native,
had enlisted in the Coast Guard in 2021
and moved to Corpus Christi after working as a KPMG accountant in the east coast.

He was the sole triage coordinator at Camp Mystic,
a Christian summer camp that was housing 750 girls when the catastrophic flooding hit.

'I had a job to do',
Ruskan said.
'All these people are looking at you terrified with a 1,000-yard stare.
They want some sort of comfort,
someone to save them'."

from: Hero Coast Guard saves 165 from Texas floods on his first callout

 

[Sundog]

As a mother, grandie and an aunt/ great aunt who had my babies involved in the WNC Helene disaster, I took great offense then and now with the blame game. Those who know me know who I blame, this is NOT the time for politics. This is the time for grace and prayers to whoever you pray to, for the families and their lost ones.

I absolutely agree. It's shameful and disgusting how some are exploiting this tragedy for their own political gain.

Keeping the families and lost ones in my prayers.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Whitmire, in a news conference at Houston's Permitting Center, called the flooding "as bad a tragedy" he's seen in his more than 50 years in politics, including his time as a senator in the Texas Legislature.

"It's a time for everyone to come together," Whitmire said. "Partisanship, where you live, your ethnicity, anything that people use to divide us needs to be condemned. We are Houstonians. We're Texans. We're human beings. And we're parents."

The mayor added the city would be monitoring resources and would check with his team and council members to see if there are other ways to help those affected by the tragedy.

"I want everybody to recognize that it's time to hug one another," Whitmire said. "Hug your kids."

MSN

 

[OddOneOut]

As a mother, grandie and an aunt/ great aunt who had my babies involved in the WNC Helene disaster, I took great offense then and now with the blame game. Those who know me know who I blame, this is NOT the time for politics. This is the time for grace and prayers to whoever you pray to, for the families and their lost ones.

Most of us are just trying to figure out what actually happened and why.

Sorry to hear your family was caught up in that catastrophe. Reporting on it was terrible and unreliable. News organizations kept contradicting each other. WNC was the only one I have ever sent aid to. I found a local disaster group and had winter clothing sent directly from Amazon to them.

 

[Quill]

As a mother, grandie and an aunt/ great aunt who had my babies involved in the WNC Helene disaster, I took great offense then and now with the blame game. Those who know me know who I blame, this is NOT the time for politics. This is the time for grace and prayers to whoever you pray to, for the families and their lost ones.

I absolutely agree. It's shameful and disgusting how some are exploiting this tragedy for their own political gain.

Keeping the families and lost ones in my prayers.

Well said by both of you.

 

[PunishThenForgive]

"The crux of this disaster is a failure of the last mile of communication,” Fahy said. “The forecasts went out, they communicated the forecasts, they disseminated the watches and warnings. And the dilemma we have is there was nobody listening at 4 o’clock in the morning for these watches and warnings.”

Ample warnings. This is clearly a failure of camp management IMO. Sad to say.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/07/texas-flood-forecasts-accuracy-lives-lost-00441068

I agree. I think they need to improve the warning system, so all of us in Texas need to pony up so we can safely enjoy the natural beauty of our Hill Country rivers.

I wonder if the riverside cabins can be built on reinforced stilts/pilings the way I’ve seen them in homes built along Caddo Lake at the Louisiana border. Sadly, such homes along a rushing river won’t be a match if huge uprooted trees come barreling down on them.

Of course, according to this document, building any permanent structure in a flood plain might be inadvisable. What are the poor people in lovely Kerrville going to do? The Guadalupe River literally runs right next to the town center. This is such a tragic, sad event.

IMO

FYI: Here’s a useful resource for anyone living in or visiting the beautiful Texas Hill Country (and linked in the previous paragraph):

Staying Safe: A Guide for Flooding in the Guadalupe River Basin

 

[K9Enzo]

I watched Mr. Badon’s interview over the weekend, and what stood out wasn’t just his words. It was his face. It’s the look of someone who is physically present but emotionally suspended. When a loved one goes missing, everything else fades. Time distorts. The mind detaches to protect the heart. Mr. Badon was in that space. Walking, searching, calling out, because doing something is the only thing that feels possible. imo

What I saw in Mr. Badon was the disoriented calm that often masks devastation. The hyper-focus on action because standing still means feeling the full weight.

I’ve seen people in that state. Not crying. Not angry. Just existing. Waiting for reality to catch up. That is what sudden loss looks like before it sinks in. These families have been shattered into a million pieces. imo

Dad who found dead boy in search for missing daughter gets awful news

Ty Badon was searching for his daughter Joyce Catherine at the epicenter of the carnage in Hunt, Texas, over the weekend when he stumbled across the harrowing sight.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[mickey2942]

There have been several disturbing articles, that lack empathy at the suffering of these families, victims, survivors. I won't place them here. But it is appalling behavior. Which has resulted in the termination of employment for these people based on what they have said.

That is interesting. I don't agree with the vitriol of their rhetoric, but it is interesting that their speech has resulted in termination of employment.

 

[K9Enzo]

There have been several disturbing articles, that lack empathy at the suffering of these families, victims, survivors. I won't place them here. But it is appalling behavior. Which has resulted in the termination of employment for these people based on what they have said.

That is interesting. I don't agree with the vitriol of their rhetoric, but it is interesting that their speech has resulted in termination of employment.

My guess... many people (employees) mistakenly believe the First Amendment protects them from consequences at work for what they say, especially on social media. In reality, freedom of speech protects individuals from government censorship, not from accountability in a private workplace. If an employee posts (as an example) something that violates company values, harms the company's reputation, or creates a disruptive or unsafe environment, the employer has the right to take disciplinary action, including termination. This applies even when comments are made outside of work or on personal accounts. People can say what they want, but it does not mean your job is protected from the impact of those words. IMO only