A girls' summer camp swept away by a 'horrific' deluge

Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp perched on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, was a place of laughter, prayer and adventure just days ago.

But just before daybreak on Friday, the Fourth of July public holiday, the river rose 26ft (8m) in about 45 minutes amid a torrential downpour.

Many of the hundreds of girls at the camp were sleeping in low-lying cabins less than 500ft (150m) from the riverbank.

The bunk beds are now mud-caked and toppled, the detritus of a summer camp cut tragically short.

Destroyed personal belongings are scattered across soaked interiors where children once gathered for Bible study and campfire songs.

So far 78 fatalities have been confirmed from the floods in central Texas. At least 68, including 28 children, were in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic was located.

Among the dead is the camp's longtime director, Richard "Dick" Eastland, and several young campers. Ten girls and a counsellor from the camp are still missing.

Stella Thompson, 13, was in a cabin on higher ground when storms awoke her early on Friday.

As helicopters began buzzing overhead, she realised something was dreadfully wrong. The girls in her cabin heard that the Guadalupe River side of the camp was flooded.

"When we got that news, we were all, like, hysterical and praying a lot," Stella told a Dallas NBC affiliate.

"And the whole cabin was really, really terrified, but not for ourselves, worried for those on the other side."

Stella described the "horrific" scenes as she and other survivors were evacuated by military trucks.

"You'd see kayaks in trees… then there was first responders in the water pulling out girls.

"And there were huge trees ripped out of the ground and their roots. And it didn't look like Camp Mystic anymore."

Even those on higher ground were not safe.

Katharine Somerville, a counsellor on the more-elevated Cypress Lake side of Camp Mystic, told Fox News on Sunday: "Our cabins at the tippity top of hills were completely flooded with water.

"I mean, y'all have seen the complete devastation, we never even imagined that this could happen."

She said the campers in her care were all safely evacuated.

Texas Lt Gov Dan Patrick told of one heroic camp counsellor who smashed a window so girls in their pyjamas could swim out through neck-high water.

"These little girls, they swam for about 10 or 15 minutes," he told the Fox & Friends TV programme.

"Can you imagine, in the darkness and the rushing waters and trees coming by you and rocks come on you? And then they get to a spot on the land."

On Sunday, the rain was pouring down as the BBC reached the camp.

The entrance was cordoned off by police and the rubble of what might have been some kind of gatehouse was strewn across the ground.

More rain is forecast, which will make the rescue effort even harder.

Three days after the deluge, hope is fading and this is rapidly becoming a recovery exercise more than a rescue mission.

Camp Mystic has been operated by the same family for generations, offering girls a chance to grow "spiritually" in a "wholesome" Christian atmosphere, according to its website.

Families from all across Texas, including the state's political elite, and the wider US send their daughters each summer to swim, canoe, ride horses and form lifelong friendships.

But the beauty of the Guadalupe River, which draws so many to the area, also proved deadly.

The floodwaters arrived with little warning, ripping through the picturesque riverfront area that is home to nearly 20 youth camps.

Though Camp Mystic suffered the greatest losses, officials say the scale of the disaster is far-reaching.

Nearby, the all-girls camp Heart O' the Hills was also deluged.

Its co-owner and director, Jane Ragsdale, was among the dead. Fortunately, the camp was out of session at the time.

An unknown number of other campers were in the area for the holiday weekend.

Questions are mounting over why so many camps were situated so close to the river, and why more was not done to evacuate the children in time.

Congressman Chip Roy, who represents the area, acknowledged the devastation while urging caution against premature blame.

"The response is going to be, 'We've gotta move all these camps - why would you have camps down here by the water?'" Roy said.

"Well, you have camps by the water because it's by the water. You have camps near the river because it's a beautiful and wonderful place to be."

Families of the missing, meanwhile, face an agonising wait for news. Search and rescue teams - some navigating by boat, others combing through debris - are working round the clock.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed on Sunday that the mission would "stop at nothing" until every missing person was found.

As for Stella, she takes some solace in her grief from a poem that was taught by Camp Mystic leaders.

"A bell is not a bell until you ring it.

"A song is not a song until you sing it.

"The love in your heart was not put there to stay.

"Love is not love until you give it away."