A 13-year-old camper who escaped the Texas flooding tragedy on Friday, July 4, recalled what evacuating her camp was like.
She was at Camp Mystic
Stella Thompson was attending her sixth year at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp nestled in Texas Hill Country which was flooded on July 4th.
RELATED STORIES
She initially woke up in the early hours of the morning to the sounds of the weather outside, she told NBC affiliate KXAS.
They were on the Cypress Lake side
The teenager’s camp was on the Cypress Lake side, which was higher ground than those staying closer to the Guadalupe River.
Despite this, she recalls her cabin losing power at some point in the night, with camp leaders telling the girls to remain indoors.
Stella shared the moment the girls realized the situation
“I think it’s the uncertainty that really shook up our cabin,” the 13-year-old said, recalling seeing helicopters flying overhead as the moment they realized how dire the situation was.
Stella told KXAS that her cabin later found out campers on the Guadalupe River side had to be evacuated.
She recalled the fear in her cabin
“Eventually when we got that news we were all kind of hysterical and the whole cabin was praying a lot and terrified — but not for ourselves,” Stella said.
When military vehicles showed up on Friday evening, hours later to evacuate them too, the teen was able to see all the damage done by the flood.
Stella described seeing the water and its aftermath
“You’d see kayaks in trees and it was kind of horrific because we had no idea,” Stella said, describing seeing emergency personnel searching the water.
She added that “there were huge trees ripped out of the ground.”
Camp Mystic had become unrecognizable
The 13-year-old told KXAS that the place she had returned to for six summers lost its features. “It didn’t look like Camp Mystic anymore,” Stella said.
She only began to process the damage and loss of life after being rescued. “I think while it was going on, I sort of felt a numbness,” she shared. “Saying it out loud is making me realize what actually happened and how bad it actually is.”
Stella’s mother is grateful she was saved
Casey, the 13-year-old’s mother, is navigating a mix of emotions too as she remains grateful to have reunited with her daughter but aching for the loss of other girls in the floods.
“We are just so happy that she is safe and we have her. We are just grateful to be some of the fortunate ones,” the mother told the outlet.
“So there’s a sense of relief and an equal sense of just awareness of that’s not everybody’s story and that’s just two kinds of competing emotions.”
People are still missing following the floods
As of Sunday, July 6th, there are still 10 girls and a counselor unaccounted for, according to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha, the CNN reports.
The death toll is also rising, with 82 fatalities reported so far in connection to the flash floods.
