DEADLY FLOODS ENDLESS HEARTBREAK & ENDURING HEROISM

IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE FOURTH OF JULY DISASTER, STORIES EMERGE OF COURAGE IN THE FACE OF GRAVE DANGER– AND LOVE AMID WRENCHING TRAGEDY

- JANELLE GRIFFITH

Long Road Ahead Recovery efforts (right, in Hunt, Texas, on July 6) are still in the early days in the wake of flooding from the Guadalupe River. "Help is going to be needed long after there's other things to report about," says local Julia Hatfield.

The floodwaters that brought historic death and devastation to the Texas Hill Country have receded. Left behind are a tangled mess of ruined neighborhoods and campgrounds, scores of bodies and plenty of difficult questions. The survivors and victims’ loved ones—as of press time the death toll stands at 132 people, with more than 100 still missing—now wonder: How will we go on? And how could this have happened?

One of those looking for answers is Austin resident Lisa Miller, whose daughters Eliza, 14, Genevieve, 12, and Birdie, 9, were attending Camp Mystic, perched beside the Guadalupe River in Hunt, when calamity struck on the Fourth of July. Fueled by torrential early-morning storms, water engulfed the region’s infamously flood-prone terrain and swept away at least 28 campers and counselors from the beloved girls-only camp, where approximately 750 people were staying, marking one of the most devastated sites that day.

In the aftermath the community is sharing stories of harrowing danger, gutting loss—and remarkable courage. Miller, 43, credits her daughters’ safety to the work of Mystic owner Dick Eastland and his family, as well as the camp’s teenage counselors. Eastland, 70, died ferrying children away. “I am eternally grateful to them for helping our girls escape with their lives,” Miller says, “and devastated for those for whom the water rose too quickly.”

Camp Mystic: A Retreat, Ravaged