In the aftermath of the devastating floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country in Texas in the United States, a tight-knit community is mourning the loss of at least 110 lives to flash flooding – including 27 at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp situated along the Guadalupe River.Camp Mystic bore the brunt of the floodwaters, but the region is home to several popular sleepaway camps and youth facilities serving families from across Texas, including Hill Country Youth Ranch. Tony Gallucci, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, works there.
“We’re gonna have some clearing [of debris like fallen trees] to do, we’ve got a log jam and that kind of stuff,” Gallucci said. “We do have one road [in their facilities] that buckled; it’ll have to be repaired.”
The ranch sits uphill from the river, unlike Camp Mystic, where 2.4 metres (8ft) of water filled cabins with sleeping campers in the early morning hours of July 4, and the Guadalupe River rose more than six metres (20ft) in two hours. Among the dead is camp director Dick Eastland, who perished trying to save the girls from the rushing floodwaters.
Flash flooding is a recurring threat in this part of Texas. The Hill Country, including Kerr County where the camp is located, has thin soil and limestone bedrock that limits rain from soaking into …
