By Savannah Hulsey Pointer and Joseph Lord
Contributing Writers
The number of deaths from flooding in central Texas over the July Fourth weekend reached 104 on Monday.
In hard-hit Kerr County, officials said searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children.
Nineteen deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green, and Williamson counties.
Officials have said they expect the death toll to rise.
Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp, announced on Monday the deaths of 27 campers and counselors.
“Camp Mystic is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors following the catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River,” Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas, said in a statement posted on its website. “Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly.”
The camp said it has been in contact with state and local authorities, who are still allocating resources to search for missing campers, and thanked the community and first responders for their support.
“We ask for your continued prayers, respect and privacy for each of our families affected. May the Lord continue to wrap His presence around all of us,” Camp Mystic added.
Rescuers are moving through tough terrain to continue the search for flood victims, including more Camp Mystic attendees. Crews near the camp are using heavy equipment to move tree trunks and other debris from the river, in the hope of finding more survivors.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management has issued warnings, including continued instruction to “turn around, don’t drown” for those who live near areas still impacted by high water levels.
The Texas Military Department announced Sunday that its operations have resulted in the rescue of 520 individuals, the majority of whom were rescued via air evacuations conducted with Black Hawk helicopters.
Gov. Greg Abbott warned that more heavy rain lasting into Tuesday could cause more dangerous flooding, especially in areas already saturated.
President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration on Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit on Friday.
“I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way,” he told reporters. “It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible.”
In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered prayers for those touched by the disaster. At the end of his Sunday noon blessing, the first American pope said, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”
Of the currently known deaths as of the publication of this story, nearly one in four have come from Camp Mystic, which had many cabins sitting close to the Guadalupe River.
Here’s what is known so far about the victims:
Richard ‘Dick’ Eastland
One of the casualties at Camp Mystic was Dick Eastland, the camp’s director.
Paige Sumner, a former camper, wrote in a local newspaper column that Eastland was “the father figure to all of us while we were away from home.”
Her attitude was common among other campers, Sumner wrote, saying that Eastland “put campers first.”
Eastland and his wife had owned the camp since 1974, Texas Public Radio reported.
His wife, Tweety, who was away from the camp at the time, was found safe in their home afterward.
Chloe Childress
Another casualty from Camp Mystic was 19-year-old counselor Chloe Childress.
In a statement, her family wrote that the recent high school graduate “lived a beautiful life that saturated those around her with contagious joy, unending grace and abiding faith.”
A former camper herself, “Chloe was looking forward to dedicating her summer days to loving and mentoring young girls at Camp Mystic,” the statement said.
Jonathan Eads, the head of the Kinkaid School in Houston from which Childress had recently graduated, wrote that Childress “was wise beyond her years, with a steady compassion that settled a room.”
Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence
Two of the girls who died in the flood were Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, 8-year-old twin sisters.
“Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,” John and Lacy Lawrence, the girls’ parents, said in a statement.
“We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them. But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time.”
Zunker Family
Reece and Paula Zunker, two educators from the area, were confirmed to have died in the flood.
Their two children, Lyle and Holland, are still missing.
Reece Zunker was described by Tivy High School in Kerrville, where he taught, as “a passionate educator and a beloved soccer coach.”
Jane Ragsdale
Jane Ragsdale, 68, directed The Heart O’ the Hills, another summer camp for girls in the area.
No girls were present at the camp, which was in between sessions when the floods hit.
However, Ragsdale was in the camp’s facilities, which were in the path of the flood.
“She was the heart of The Heart,” the camp said in a statement mourning her passing. “She was our guiding light, our example, and our safe place. She had the rare gift of making every person feel seen, loved and important.”
Tanya Burwick
Tanya Burwick’s last communication to her family came in the form of a frantic phone call warning of the floodwaters as the 62-year-old headed to work at Walmart.
When the small-town grandmother didn’t show up for work, a missing persons report was filed.
Her SUV, unoccupied and fully submerged, was discovered before Burwick’s remains, several blocks away, were recovered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
