Amid Camp Mystic flooding devastation, stories of bravery emerge

HUNT, TEXAS – Five campers and one counselor are still missing after a wall of water overwhelmed the all-girls summer camp, Camp Mystic, on July 4th. At least 27 campers and counselors died when torrential rains caused the Guadalupe River to rise more than 15 feet in 60 minutes. Now, we are learning that Texas inspectors signed off on the camp’s emergency planning just two days before the catastrophic flooding.

WCCB Charlotte’s Ashley Anderson went to Camp Mystic every summer as a girl, and so did her daughter. They spent year after year enjoying the same water that turned deadly last week. She talked with WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty about the stories of bravery she is hearing.

Anderson says, “When I think about those counselors that busted windows and pushed little girls through and scrambled up the side of a mountain barefoot in the pouring rain, cutting their feet on rocks. These counselors led these girls to the top of that mountain, which is called Sky High. They knew exactly where to go, and they huddled under a tree. And then they knew the path in the pitch black dark with thunderstorms raging and floodwaters raging. They knew exactly where to take those kids to get them safe. So I think that is just a miracle in itself.”

Among the dead is Richard “Dick” Eastland, the camp’s beloved director described by campers as a father figure. He reportedly died while trying to save the youngest campers. Anderson describes him as loving, caring and calm, and tells WCCB that he and his wife were living out their calling by running the camp.