Texas Camp Staffer: 'We Had No Warning' From Officials

At Mo-Ranch Assembly, staffers say they had to keep tabs on the weather themselves
Posted Jul 7, 2025 12:30 AM CDT
One Texas Camp Was Doomed. Another Saw River, Took Action
Bedding items are seen outside sleeping quarters at Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area Saturday, July 5, 2025, in Hunt, Texas.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Over a dozen people died at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, and 10 campers plus a counselor are still missing after devastating flash floods tore through the area. But at Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, another camp in Hunt, staff managed to get everyone to safety before disaster struck, the AP reports. Officials in Kerr County, which is home to those and other youth camps, are facing questions over how much warning was given to residents, and the communications director for Mo-Ranch says they received no direct warning from county officials. Rather, camp staff was monitoring weather reports and the rising level of the nearby Guadalupe River. It was after midnight on the Fourth of July when staffers decided to relocate 70 children and adults who had been staying near the river, after seeing how much the water had risen.

"We had no warning this was coming" from the county itself, the communications director says. County officials have so far only said they didn't expect to get months' worth of rain in such a short time, the Washington Post reports in an extensive look at the lack of notifications. Statewide, at least 82 are dead (68 of them in Kerr County, 28 of those children) and 41 are missing, the AP reports. The director of Camp Mystic is reportedly among the dead, though the social media post announcing his death has since been removed, Fox News reports. Dick Eastland bought the Christian summer camp in 1974. Some parents recount their campers' harrowing experiences in this piece at the New York Times.

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