Heartrending photographs have captured the devastation at Camp Mystic, where at least 27 people, including nine children, have died after a violent storm dumped nearly a foot of rain just before dawn, unleashing torrents of floodwater from the overflowing Guadalupe River. In one poignant picture, a child’s toy—brightly coloured among shattered trunks and twisted branches—rests eerily untouched on the muddy riverside. Another shows a building with an entire wall torn away, revealing nothing inside but a Texas flag and a few paintings clinging high to the remaining walls.
Parents posted frantic pleas for help on social media alongside photos of their daughters on Friday, as dozens of campers remained unaccounted for after deadly floods swept through central Texas overnight. Hundreds more across the region remain missing, with officials saying that 850 people had been rescued so far. State authorities confirmed that between 23 and 25 girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls located along the river in Hunt, Texas, were still unaccounted for.
Lt Gov Dan Patrick said: “I’m asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying. On-your-knees kind of praying that we find these young girls.”
Founded in 1926, Camp Mystic is one of the most storied camps in the area. Families often register their daughters years in advance to secure a spot. Before the flood, social media posts showed what seemed like an idyllic scene — green-roofed cabins nestled among oak and cypress trees, girls riding horses, fishing, and performing dance routines in matching T-shirts. Campers aged 8 to 17 posed arm-in-arm with wide smiles.
That same landscape has now been transformed. Another photo shows a pickup truck wedged halfway up a tree, teetering on two wheels. Nearby, a pile of steamer trunks, branches, and twisted metal lies strewn across the mud.
Emergency teams spent Friday combing the riverbanks and surrounding woods, with helicopters used to evacuate campers still trapped by floodwaters. A rope was strung across a bridge so girls could hold on as they waded through knee-deep water.
Elinor Lester, 13, said she was evacuated from Camp Mystic by helicopter after being jolted awake at 1.30am by thunder and rain pelting the cabin. She said she and her cabinmates were housed on higher ground known as Senior Hill — but the younger girls’ cabins, which sit along the river, were quickly inundated.
She said: “The camp was completely destroyed. It was really scary.”
Her mother, Elizabeth Lester, said her son had also been staying nearby at Camp La Junta and narrowly escaped as well. A counsellor there woke to rising water and helped the boys escape through a window. Camp La Junta and Camp Waldemar both later posted on Instagram confirming all their campers and staff were safe.
The director of another camp just up the road from Mystic was among those confirmed dead.
Elizabeth Lester, holding back tears, said she broke down when she was finally reunited with her daughter, who was clutching a teddy bear and a book.
She said: “My kids are safe, but knowing others are still missing is just eating me alive.”
Several families took to Facebook to share that they had received devastating phone calls from officials confirming their daughters had not yet been found.
Camp Mystic sent an email to parents of the roughly 750 campers telling them that if they had not been contacted directly, their child was accounted for.
More than 100 people gathered at a school in Ingram being used as a reunification centre on Friday afternoon. One young girl wearing a Camp Mystic shirt stood sobbing in her mother’s arms, her white socks soaked through as she stood in a puddle.
The camp sits in a stretch of central Texas known locally as “flash flood alley,” where hard limestone means rainwater races off the hills rather than soaking in.
Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which is collecting donations for families affected, said: “When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil. It rushes down the hill.”
The National Weather Service had forecast 3 to 6 inches of rain for the region, but more than 10 inches fell in a matter of hours. Lt Gov Patrick said the Guadalupe River surged to 26 feet in under an hour, submerging the flood gauge entirely.
Friday’s tragedy echoes a deadly storm in 1987, when floodwaters engulfed a bus carrying teenage girls from Pot O’ Gold Christian camp. Ten campers died after the vehicle became trapped near Comfort, just 33 miles east of Hunt.
Chloe Crane, a teacher and former Camp Mystic counsellor, said her heart broke when she saw an email about the missing girls.
She said: “To be quite honest, I cried because Mystic is such a special place, and I just couldn’t imagine the terror that I would feel as a counsellor to experience that for myself and for 15 little girls that I’m taking care of.
“And it’s also just sadness, like the camp has been there forever and cabins literally got washed away.”
She said Camp Mystic was a place where girls came to build confidence and independence. She recalled teaching journalism, crafting, and racing canoes on the last day of summer. Now, she said, many of those happy memories had been shattered.