As catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Texas Hill Country on July 4, dispatchers received multiple frantic 911 calls from Camp Mystic, a Christian sleepaway camp for girls, describing children gone missing and pleading for helicopters to rescue them.
Callers described fears that girls may have drowned, dozens of people unaccounted for and roads that had washed away.
Twenty-eight people at Camp Mystic — 25 campers, the camp’s owner and director, and two counselors — died in the floods as the Guadalupe River, which skirts the campground, rose quickly amid heavy rainfall.
One man called about a missing 7-year-old girl.
“Maybe potentially she’s drowned,” he told dispatch. “They said they’re at Camp Mystic at the Guadalupe River.”
A director at Camp Mystic called 911 asking for search and rescue.
“We’re missing as many as 20 to 40 people,” he said.
These are some of nearly 600 calls released this week by the Kerrville Police Department from the catastrophic July 4 flash flooding that killed more than 130 people and devastated Kerr County.
“The release of the recordings is a painful reminder to our community of the catastrophic flood of July 4. We continue to pray for all those affected by this disaster,” Camp Mystic said in a statement to NBC News.
'There’s water all around us. We have no way of going in or out.'
A security guard at Mystic described the dire conditions as he called 911 for help and asked for the National Guard.
“We’re out of power, hardly have any cell service. Here at Camp Mystic in Hunt, please. If you can call the National Guard, please,” he said.
“It’s totally gone, the roadway is gone,” he continued. “The only way out here for search and rescue is going to be helicopter. We’re going to have a landing zone set up.”
One woman also warned dispatch that road travel was nearly impossible.
“I have a feeling the only way you’re gonna get to us is a helicopter,” she told dispatch.
Another woman called from Camp Mystic saying she was with a 59-year-old woman who had broken ribs. She said she had no cell service, but was able to reach dispatch using the SOS feature on her phone.
“We have no way of communication with anyone, but we do have someone who is severely hurt. But the roads are flooded, so I’m not sure if there’s a way to drive to get to us,” the caller said.
Dispatch responded, “Yeah, I believe we tried to go out there but we’re not able to make location.”
The caller said she was at Senior Hill, the highest point at the camp, surrounded by water and unable to reach the camp director or other staff.
“There’s water all around us. We have no way of going in or out,” she said.
Campers rescued by locals, some feared drowned
There were several harrowing calls about young campers missing or found fleeing the area.
A caller who lives in Hunt described to 911 how she helped rescue two girls from the camp.
“The flood is up to our house right now. We’re OK, but we live about a mile down the road from Camp Mystic, and we’ve already got two little girls who have come down the river, and we’ve gotten to them, but I’m not sure how many else are out there,” she said.
Some callers were locals concerned about the welfare of campers.
“We are back in Hunt, but I have some friends with us who have a kid at Camp Mystic, and we have no idea what’s going on,” one caller told dispatch. “Have you heard anything? What’s going on at Camp Mystic?”
The dispatcher said they hadn’t heard anything, but that rescue teams were on their way.
Another caller said: “I’m just checking — I just heard from somebody at Camp Mystic that the highway is washed out and they need assistance by air, and I assume that y’all are on that, and I don’t want to make more trouble.”
Camp La Junta
Dispatch also received calls pleading for help at Camp La Junta, a boys camp in Kerr County, about 6 miles north of Camp Mystic.
One woman called and said in a shaken voice: “We’ve got cabins that are starting to fill up. What do we do?”
Dispatch urged them to get to the highest point of the camp and do a head count.
“Well, we’ve got, we’ve got kids down in cabins that are down halfway underwater,” the caller responded.
Dispatch said a strike team with boats was headed that way.
“We need them very, very, very much at Camp La Junta,” the woman said.
Another call came from an employee at the camp who reported a structure collapse there.
“We’ve got cabins flooded. I can’t get to kids,” he said.
When asked what building collapsed, he said: “Cabin 14. I think, I think those kids are all out. But there’s other cabins flooded. I can’t get to them. There’s a lake between me and all the cabins.”
“The owner of the camp is trudging through water trying to find kids, make sure everyone’s safe. But I truly don’t know how severe the situation is. But it’s not good,” he added.
Another caller from Camp La Junta told dispatch, “We are 100% trapped, hanging on to the rafters right now.”
“I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried about these kids right here because we can’t have one of these kids falling under the water,” the caller said.
Camp La Junta has said that every camper, counselor and staff member survived.
Aftermath
The families of six children and two counselors killed in the flooding at Camp Mystic filed two lawsuits in November against the camp’s owners and others, alleging negligence. Attorneys for some of the families said that the camp was “in a region known as ‘Flash Flood Alley.’”
At the time, Jeff Ray, an attorney for Camp Mystic, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth the magnitude of the flooding was unexpected and there was “misinformation” in the suits.
“We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area,” Ray said.
Camp Mystic announced this week that it plans to reopen next summer with new safety measures in place, including more than 100 flood monitoring units along Cypress Lake and the south and north forks of the Guadalupe River that will provide “early detection of high-water events.”
In a message to parents, Camp Mystic said this year’s events will be at a newer Cypress Lake location.
Other safety measures include hand-held two-way radios in each cabin to provide weather alerts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, back-up satellite internet and “higher-capacity generators to maintain power in critical areas.”
