On July 4th, 2025, a record-breaking flood from the Guadalupe River hit the Hill Country area of Texas, specifically the all-girls camp called Camp Mystic, and created a devastating impact on the communities surrounding the area. Early on the fourth at around 1 a.m., thunder and rain began, and many thought nothing of it. Campers were used to this weather and thought it was just another stormy night. According to WeatherSpark, extreme storms in Hill County peak in early June and are still high into July. (“Hill Country Village Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Texas, United States)”) This caused relaxation and worries to be far from the minds of residents and campers, with no idea of the tragedy coming.
Within an hour, the cabins started flooding, and by 2 a.m., evacuations were in full effect. They started with cabins closest to the river, and loaded them into SUVs to move them as far from the river as possible. While those cabins were being evacuated, most counselors had no idea of what was taking place. All they knew was that something was wrong. Some tactics they used to prepare their girls while they waited were to write their names on their wrists for identification of they got lost. Another was to just distract the girls and make sure they weren’t worried.
Two cabins in particular were in uncontrolled danger from their location. The cabins named Bubbles and Twins were sleeping peacefully until their cabin started to flood. These cabins contained some of the youngest girls allowed to come to the church camp. There was basically no escape for the girls because of the creek and the river surrounding them. When the river and the creek rose, it was very difficult to safely get out of the cabin, partially because they were surrounded, but also because there was no safe area close by. According to CNN, all of the campers in the Bubble cabin were killed in the flood, 15 girls in total. (Yan) Also, according to The New York Times, the rest of the deaths came from the Twins cabin. (Oxenden) Even though this concludes the deaths, there was so much more trauma and hardship these young girls faced.
According to CNN and KHOU 11, there was an evacuation plan that failed to mention anything about evacuating and was not thorough enough for this kind of situation. (Rogalski) (Yan) This evacuation plan was approved by the Texas Health Department, but was later found to be lacking in information. The document states that in these kinds of situations, campers are supposed to stay in their cabins unless told otherwise. It also stated that the cabins were built in safe areas, and this would likely not happen, leaving all the campers in an unsafe situation. Camp Mystic was unprepared compared to other camps in this area because Camp Mystic had a one-page evacuation plan, while another reported camp had a 30-page evacuation plan detailing every step. So even though there were flood warnings and evacuation signals, the camp had decided it was best for each camper to stay put. According to KHOU 11, a parent of one of the girls stated, “Our daughters paid an ultimate price for their obedience to a plan that was destined to fail.” Parents started to realize why this tragedy could have been prevented and started to fight; as of now, many are fighting for mandatory evacuation plans and other safety precautions.
28 fatalities happened that horrible morning at Camp Mystic, and it could have been prevented. This was not a problem of budget cuts or the national government, but a preparation problem. Camp Mystic was not prepared for something like this to happen, and they lived in a false sense of security. This goes to show that being prepared is much more important than thinking you are and not thoroughly planning for it, because you don’t think it will happen. If Camp Mystic had had a thorough evacuation plan like other camps, it would have been better off. Many children lost their lives, and families lost their loved ones. This is a wake-up call for everyone that negligence and laziness are never the answer; it is better to be thorough than be accountable for multiple preventable deaths. Camp Mystic was a tragedy, but with the right amount of thoroughness, this might have been prevented.
Works Cited
“Hill Country Village Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Texas, United States).” Weather Spark, https://weatherspark.com/y/7119/Average-Weather-in-Hill-Country-Village-Texas-United-States-Year-Round#google_vignette. Accessed 28 September 2025.
Oxenden, McKenna. “How Two Cabins Turned Into an Epicenter of Grief.” The New York Times, 17 July 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/camp-mystic-cabins-bubble-inn-twins.html. Accessed 28 September 2025.
Rogalski, Jeremy. “Records show Camp Mystic had one-page emergency flood plan.” KHOU, 23 September 2025, https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/camp-mystic-emergency-plan/285-d0fa22df-f871-4572-83a2-afa60bec53dd. Accessed 28 September 2025.
Yan, Holly. “Camp Mystic’s ‘littlest souls’ were nurtured in Bubble Inn. All the cabin’s girls and 2 counselors were lost in the Texas flood.” CNN, 11 July 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/11/us/camp-mystic-texas-flooding-victims. Accessed 28 September 2025.
