Camp counselors, neighbors display 'selfless courage' during deadly Texas flooding
Counselors at Camp Mystic and Director Dick Eastland are credited with saving campers as a wall of water flooded the girls camp in Kerr County. A local man gave his life to save his family. A U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer conducted more than 100 rescues during his first mission.
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In the wake of the catastrophic flooding across Central Texas, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. was reminded of the words of Mr. Rogers: "Look for the helpers." Hundreds of those "helpers" emerged July 4 as a 20-foot wall of water came surging down the Guadalope River, overwhelming whole communities and claiming dozens of lives.
Herring said the "helpers" in Kerrville include city staff, Kerr County personnel, state and federal workers who are efforting the search to find the missing people after the flooding, including about 10 girls from Camp Mystic.
"I'm old enough to remember Fred Rogers, and he one time said during a crisis: ‘Look for the helpers,'" Herring said Sunday. "You will always find people who are helping in Kerrville."
"We're doing everything we can," he added. "Let me repeat something I said yesterday in our emergency operations center. It's not a bunch of different teams. It's one team. Our goal is to rescue those in peril and find those who are lost."
Many of the youngest victims and survivors were from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp along the river in Hunt.
On Sunday, as the search continued, volunteers and search teams from organizations waded through mud and looked through debris for the remaining missing girls.
A search and rescue worker looks through debris for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas with multiple fatalities reported.
(Jim Vondruska/Getty Images / Getty Images)
A striking Getty Images photo showed a woman with a baby on her back in a carrier as she climbed over the flooding wreckage, aiding in the search near Camp Mystic.
PHOTOS, VIDEOS REVEAL DISASTROUS DAMAGE ACROSS KERR COUNTY, TEXAS AFTER DEADLY FLASH FLOOD
As the water entered the cabins, camp counselors had to lead the young girls to safety. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry highlighted the heroics of Emma Foltz, of Alexandria.
According to Landry, it was Foltz third year as a counselor at Camp Mystic.
"She played an instrumental role in helping evacuate 14 of her campers to safety. Please join me in thanking Emma for all her hard work and bravery under immense pressure," Landry wrote on X.
Among those who did not survive the powerful flooding was Camp Mystic Director Richard "Dick" Eastland. Former counselor and family friend Paige Sumner wrote in the Kerrville Daily Times that Eastland would have put the campers' safety first.
"It doesn’t surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers," Sumner wrote.
According to a GoFundMe, Julian Ryan, 27, "jumped into action to protect and save his family and get them to safety" when water came rushing into their home.
Texas Football Life reported the former Ingram Moore High School football star broke a window to save his fiancée, their children and his mother. He did not survive the flooding.
Coast Guard aircrews rescue people in Kerrville trapped by flooding
Video from the U.S. Coast Guard District 8 shows an aircrew rescuing a family near Kerrville, Texas after flooding surrounded their camper.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem has been on the ground in Texas as the recovery response continues. On Sunday, she shared the story of a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Petty Officer Scott Ruskin, who saved 165 victims.
"This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene," Neom wrote. "Scott Ruskin is an American hero. His selfless courage embodies the spirit and mission of the USCG."