PHOENIX – Devastating floods have torn through Kerr County, Texas, pushing the death toll past 100.

At least 161 people remain missing, including five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp.

We’re hearing from Arizonans who know the area well – a sort of home away from home.

Local perspective:

Arizona families are now sharing their stories and memories of time spent along the Guadalupe River, where the floods occurred.

There are about seven summer camps in this part of Central Texas, where more than a dozen campers from Camp Mystic lost their lives.

Just two miles from Camp Mystic is Camp Waldemar.

A Valley mother shared her experience, as her daughter was a first-time counselor at Camp Waldemar the night the storms hit.

“Everybody just started calling me and said, ‘Have you heard from Annabel or have you heard from Annabel?’ And I said, ‘No,'” Marci Symington said.

For families like Symington’s, summer camp in the Texas Hill Country is a family tradition and a rite of passage. Three generations have spent their summers in the same cabins at Camp Waldemar, including her mother, three older sisters, and now her daughters.

“As soon as we found out that we had two girls, I signed them up,” Symington said.

After eight summers as a camper, Symington’s daughter, Annabel, returned as a counselor for the summer of 2025. It was Annabel and a cabin full of 10-year-old girls.

KERRVILLE, TX – JULY 5: Families wait to be reunited with their children from Camp Waldemar in Hunt at a reunification center at Arcadia Theater in Kerrville, Texas on Saturday, July 5, 2025. (Photo by Desiree Rios for The Washington Post via Getty I

‘Her campers were really scared’

A peaceful scene filled with canoe races and memories turned to devastation in the early hours of July 4. “Her campers were really scared, and they’d woken her up,” Symington said.

Without her cell phone or service, Symington didn’t expect to hear from Annabel, waiting 48 hours to hear her daughter’s voice. “We were all crying. So just joy and relief,” Symington said.

A message from Camp Waldemar notified parents that all campers and counselors were accounted for, but that was not the case for Camp Mystic, just two miles away.

“I mean, like thinking about what she was going through…” Symington said, reflecting on her daughter’s experience. Her daughter is still in Texas and plans to return to the Valley soon.

‘A slice of heaven’

For Fields Moseley, whose parents retired to the Texas Hill Country, summers, Thanksgivings and Christmases were spent on the Guadalupe River, a familiar setting now devastated by floods.

“I think for my father it was a slice of heaven,” Moseley said.

His father, Fred Moseley, was deeply involved in the tight-knit community, teaching hunting at all-boys camps, serving on the school board and participating in the Rotary Club.

“It’s not about how long it’s going to take to recover, but just how integral it’s been to so many families across Texas,” Moseley said, reflecting on the community’s deep roots.

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