Eight-year-old girls at sleep-away camp, some for the first time. Out-of-town families spanning generations, crammed into recreational vehicles to relax by a river in the Hill Country of Texas. Local residents, traveling to or from work, or simply sleeping at home.<\/p>\n
In the predawn inkiness of Independence Day, the rains came, and the waters rose. And rose. And rose. By Wednesday morning, at least 119 people had died from the Guadalupe River pouring over its banks. Many perished in the dark, in raging floodwaters, as they were swept out of cars, cabins, houses and trailers. The disaster ranks as one of the deadliest for children in the United States in recent decades.<\/p>\n
Among the dead: at least two dozen girls and staff members at a storied Christian summer camp, a 23-year-old police officer and his parents camping in their R.V., a 62-year-old woman driving to her job at Walmart.<\/p>\n
And there will be more. As of Wednesday morning, more than 161 people were missing from one county alone \u2014 Kerr \u2014 northwest of San Antonio, according to Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas.<\/p>\n
Stories are emerging about some of the victims, as identified by The New York Times through interviews with families, school officials, church leaders and official statements.<\/p>\n
The Times will continue to update this page with glimpses into the lives of the victims of the Texas floods.<\/p>\n
Campers and Vacationers <\/p>\n
People have long come to the Hill Country to boat and fly fish in tranquil waters teeming with largemouth bass and catfish, and hike rugged terrain with views of limestone canyons that are surrounded by wildflowers and cypress and pecan trees. Visitors browse antique shops and wineries, or check out a century-old rodeo, and look for gray foxes, armadillos and white-tailed deer. This bucolic region is also known as Flash Flood Alley.<\/p>\n
He was a beloved high school teacher who would often bolt out of his classroom on Friday afternoons so he and his wife could take Shiloh, their son, to rodeo competitions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Blair and Brooke were middle schoolers at St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas. They were kind, had a strong Christian faith and were energetic, the school said. Blair played volleyball, basketball and lacrosse, and was a cheerleader. Brooke played soccer, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse. The sisters were active in the speech and drama program. Blair was excited to audition for the lead role in the eighth-grade play. Brooke had a gift for improv and making people laugh. They were found holdings hands, their aunt, Jennifer Harber said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cShe was an incredible wife, daughter, mother, grandmother and person who spent her life helping kids,\u201d Victoria Eads, her daughter, wrote in an email. Her mother helped children in the foster care system when she worked in early education as a psychologist. She also helped young people during her time as a college professor, her daughter wrote. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n
The Martins, a married couple from Odessa, Texas, were camping in their R.V. along the Guadalupe River, Bobby Martin\u2019s father, John Keith Martin, told The New York Times. He said his son \u201cwas an adventurous man, adventurous and outgoing. He had many good friends, because he was a good friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via Odessa Police Department<\/p>\n
Mr. Martin, the son of Bobby and Amanda Martin and an officer with the Odessa Police Department, was camping with his parents when the floods hit.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n
Mr. Zunker was the boys\u2019 soccer coach at Tivy High School in Kerrville; Ms. Zunker had recently stepped back from teaching English in the same district. The soccer team at the school credited Mr. Zunker as someone who \u201crebuilt the soccer program and left a legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via Mackenzie Cahill-Hodulik<\/p>\n
Ms. Badon, who was from Beaumont, was staying with Reese Manchaca and other friends at a house in Hunt.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via Mackenzie Cahill-Hodulik<\/p>\n
Ms. Manchaca was a student at the University of Texas at San Antonio.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via Mackenzie Cahill-Hodulik<\/p>\n
Ms. Cahill, a student at the University of Texas at San Antonio, was excited for her senior year as a business management major. After graduation, she had plans to move in with her high school sweetheart and start dreaming of their wedding. \u201cShe was always happy, caring and just really loved her family,\u201d Mackenzie Cahill-Hodulik, Ms. Cahill\u2019s older sister, said, adding that her sister was very smart. \u201cShe had a bright future ahead of her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ms. Ramsey, who was from Lewisville, northwest of Dallas, was camping in her R.V.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n
The Rushings, who were from Sulphur Springs in East Texas, were camping in their R.V.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The Burgesses were camping with their young sons, while their daughter was at a nearby camp. Mr. Burgess was a financial adviser, Ms. Burgess an elementary school teacher. In a statement, the Liberty ISD Education Foundation, where Ms. Burgess had worked since 2019, saluted \u201cher bubbly personality, radiant smile and deep love for her students.\u201d Their daughter is safe.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Local Residents <\/p>\n
Some who died were retired and had lived in these parts for years. Others were newcomers, just starting jobs and putting down roots. They were going about their routines on the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n
Ms. Burwick was driving to her job at a Walmart in San Angelo when her vehicle was caught in rising floodwaters, according to her son, Zac Burwick. She lived in Blackwell, about 48 miles north of San Angelo. \u201cShe had a heart of gold,\u201d Mr. Burwick said. \u201cShe never knew a stranger and loved everybody that was around her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Mr. Ryan had been a stay-at-home father until he started a job recently as a dishwasher in a local restaurant to bolster the family\u2019s income. But even when money was tight, he would go out of his way to help others, said Christinia Wilson, his fianc\u00e9e. \u201cIf he saw someone with a sign on the road, asking for money, he would always stop and give something, no matter how little we had,\u201d Ms. Wilson said. \u201cHe\u2019d always say, \u2018If you bring positivity into the world, you\u2019ll get it back.\u2019\u201d He died trying to save his family from the flood, his family said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ms. Richardson moved to a small cabin along the Little Creek river in Liberty Hill three years ago, right behind a care center for people with disabilities where she worked. She is survived by two daughters and five grandchildren. She loved to crochet, and her daughter, Deliah Greenslet, said that items Ms. Richardson made for her family \u2014 baby blankets, hats, tapestries \u2014 are some of the only items she has left to remember her mother by.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ms. Graves lived in Ingram, in Kerr County, according to an obituary notice. She and her late husband had two children, 10 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ms. West had worked for decades as an electronics inspector at Texas Instruments. The night before she died, Ms. West\u2019s daughters said, family members had driven her to the family\u2019s cemetery plot to show her some new lighting on one grave. She approved, telling them she would like lights on her own grave when her time came. She also wanted \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d played at her funeral.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Mr. Brizendine was a Navy veteran who for many years worked as a nurse at Austin State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, before retiring. When he wasn\u2019t working, several of his friends said, he liked to go country-western dancing. He also loved tinkering with clocks and could repair anything from vintage grandfather clocks to newer wristwatches, his friends said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Mr. Venus, who served in the Army for 33 years, delivered medication to hospitals and nursing homes. His son William Venus Jr. live-streamed the search for him on Facebook, drawing residents to help. Searchers found his body on Monday, the son said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ms. Frizzell, who lived in the Casa Bonita subdivision in Hunt, once owned a clothing boutique in Abilene. After her late husband was diagnosed with dementia, she helped others who were dealing with that and supported the Alzheimer\u2019s Association of Abilene, according to an obituary notice.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
“She was my whole world,” Jermaine “J.J.” Jarmon, Ms. Martin’s longtime partner, said. “She took care of everything I had, and was proud to help anyone she could.”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Malaya Hammond, 17, who was about to be a high school senior, was heading to Missouri with her family from their home in Marble Falls, Texas, when their car was overtaken in the floodwaters. She was the only casualty.<\/p>\n
She was an artist who loved to sing and paint, her father, Matthew Hammond said, and had been on her way to work as a counselor at a Christian summer camp. Her dream was to take a gap year before college to visit Greece and learn to sculpt.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was an angel on this earth,\u201d her father said. \u201cShe should be with us right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Summer Camp Kids <\/p>\n
Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp near Hunt, Texas, which has been run by the Eastland family since the 1930s, is revered by parents and alumni that includes three generations of descendants of Lyndon Johnson. The former first lady, Laura Bush, once worked as a counselor. About 750 girls were attending Camp Mystic this week. <\/p>\n
Several girls who died or are now missing were in the low-lying cabins on the \u201cflats,\u201d where younger campers stay, less than 500 feet from the river. Most of the dead who have been identified, so far, were 8 or 9 years old, and were sleeping in the same cabin, nicknamed Bubble Inn.<\/p>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n
For Janie, of Dallas, going to Camp Mystic was a family tradition. This summer was her first time going. A great-granddaughter of the oil baron William Herbert Hunt, Janie was the eldest of three children.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Hanna and Rebecca, twins from Dallas, were also among the girls at Camp Mystic, according to their grandfather, Dave Lawrence, a former publisher of The Miami Herald. \u201cIt has been an unimaginable time for all of us,\u201d Mr. Lawrence said. The two girls, he added, gave \u201call in our family so much joy. They and that joy can never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Eloise had just finished second grade at Bradfield Elementary School in Dallas. Known as Lulu, she adored animals, especially her Boston terrier, Oliver. Before heading to camp, Eloise had started a dog-walking service, pledging a quarter of her earnings to Blueberry Hill Farm and Rescue in Arkansas, which is run by family friends. \u201cHer profound love and compassion for animals shone brightly, reflecting the purity and kindness of her heart,\u201d the rescue said on its website.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Called Mary Kate by her family, she was from Houston. The family said in a statement she was \u201ctiny, but mighty, full of love and joy with a smile that melted your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Greta, a student at Sinclair Elementary School in Houston, was attending Camp Mystic in Hunt for a third year. \u201cShe was overjoyed to be reunited with her camp friends for weeks of fun, laughter, sports and sisterhood,\u201d her parents, Ellen and Jorge Toranzo, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Linnie was a student at Casis Elementary School in Austin, and the community is tying green bows on the trees and signposts in her memory and for all those lost in the flood. She was a happy girl, a sister to two brothers and someone who loved to giggle, a neighbor said. In a statement, her family described Linnie as \u201ca shining light who filled our lives with indescribable joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Camp Counselors and Directors <\/p>\n
People working for Camp Mystic also died, including teenage counselors and the longtime director. The same is true of another nearby camp, Heart O\u2019 the Hills.<\/p>\n
Ms. Childress, a recent graduate of the Kinkaid School in Houston, had been working as a counselor at Camp Mystic since June. \u201cShe was wise beyond her years, with a steady compassion that settled a room,\u201d wrote Jonathan Eades, head of the Kinkaid School.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
via The Kerrville Daily Times<\/p>\n
Mr. Eastland had run Camp Mystic for decades, along with his wife, Tweety. He was reportedly swept away while trying to rescue children from rising floodwaters. \u201cIf he wasn\u2019t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,\u201d Mr. Eastland\u2019s grandson George wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ms. Ragsdale was a camper and later a counselor at Heart O\u2019 the Hills summer camp in Hunt before becoming the camp director in 1988, and was also a co-owner. \u201cShe embodied the spirit of Heart O\u2019 the Hills and was exactly the type of strong, joyful woman that the camp aimed to develop with the girls entrusted to us each summer,\u201d the camp said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Other Out-of-Towners <\/p>\n
Some people who were not from the region were staying with friends and relatives, or were passing through for reasons that have not yet been confirmed.<\/p>\n