By RYLIE LOCKERMAN, LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

On the morning of July 4, teenager Hannah Krauss experienced a natural disaster at Camp Mystic. More than 10 inches of rain fell causing the Guadalupe River to rise nearly 30 feet, rushing into the camp grounds in the middle of the night. Loss of life and destruction were left in its path.

The 17-year-old camper from nearby Northwest Austin shares her experience as the damaging flood unfolded. Her twin sister and cousin were also there  – all of them third generation Camp Mystic campers. 

The beloved all-girls Christian summer camp was founded in 1926 along the Guadalupe River in Hunt, northwest of Kerrville. The camp layout includes 13 cabins for junior campers on the “Flats” and 10 cabins for senior campers on “Senior Hill” situated above Cypress Creek, an offshoot of the Guadelupe. 

Hannah was one of the more than 400 campers there that Fourth of July night. Residing in a cabin on Senior Hill, she woke up to the noise of voices from cabinmates around 1:30 a.m. Rather than any expected chatter, the girls were gathered near the counselors at the front of the cabin, watching the water rise. Because Camp Mystic generally does not allow phones, most campers didn’t have access to weather alerts or reports. However, some of the counselors had iPads which alerted them of a flash flood.

“At first we didn’t really think anything of it,” Hannah said. “Given our cabin’s proximity to the creek,  there can be flooding on the bridge during heavy rains. “Because the bridge has been overtopped by flood waters in the past, it was not scary.”

She and her bunkmate could not fall back asleep.

“We went and sat on one of our friends’ beds. I remember looking out the window and seeing the waters at our grass, high above the creek, which was already so weird. We didn’t think it would reach there,” Hannah said. 

Shortly after seeing the water continue to rise, everyone in the cabin was awakened in preparation to evacuate if needed. In the midst of this, the power went out leaving the flashes of lighting as their main source of light.

“The thunder was so loud and every time there was lightning, the whole sky would light up,” Hannah said. 

The water kept rising.

“We were all just really scared,” Hannah said. “When it got to the porch of our cabin, we ran out. We didn’t ever expect it would get higher than that, so we didn’t grab anything. We all were focused on getting to higher ground.”

“As the water continued to rise and the lightning would strike, we could see our trunks and belongings floating in our cabin below,” she said. 

Around 3 a.m. the girls moved to a cabin uphill that the waters didn’t touch. The new cabin now accommodated everyone from Hannah’s cabin  plus the 19 campers who were staying there, exceeding the number of available beds although most campers had no interest in sleeping. By 6:30 a.m., the rain persisted as it slowly got brighter outside.

“(At one part of the morning,) we could hear the Flats [campers] because they were in the rec hall,” Hannah said. “We couldn’t see it because of the wind and rain, but we could hear them singing.”

Flood waters rose to just under the second story windows of the rec hall, her mom Rebecca shared. 

Later Hannah and other campers were relocated to a school, joining many of the other campers from other cabins. Along with her cabinmates, Hannah didn’t realize the impact of the flooding until they gathered with campers from the Flats who told their stories.

“Right before we were about to leave,” Hannah said. “We found out that there were two missing campers, and we thought it was just the two of them. (Later) we found out there were many more.”

Around 3 p.m. on July 4, Hannah’s cabin was able to evacuate. Helicopters landed at Camp Mystic’s Cypress Lake first, and then on the campus golf course. 

Days later it was discovered that a total of 27 Camp Mystic campers and staff lost their lives during the flood.

On Tuesday, July 8, Hannah and her family returned to the campgrounds to see what they could retrieve. Hannah is a third generation Camp Mystic camper. This was her 9th year attending the cherished camp, her mom, Rebecca, attended 14 years, and her grandma Gayle O’Bannon Gerlich attended 6 years.

“The devastation didn’t make sense to me until I saw the way the trees were uprooted and bent awkwardly,” Rebecca said. 

The aftermath of this event has sparked conversation and stories to be shared on social media, some of which are false and misinforming.

“One of the hard things is hearing the news and the fake parts of it,” Hannah said. “Reporting that is misleading and in some cases altogether untrue – for example, saying how the cabins on the Flats are really close to the water when they are at a distance from the water.”

In order to move forward and take care of their mental health, there have been camper get-togethers and therapy sessions. Hannah’s aunt Sara orchestrated a reunion for some of the younger campers to get together, including her 8-year-old cousin. Hannah and older campers went to surprise them.

“It’s been really important for these girls to see each other,” Rebecca said. “The older girls made a surprise appearance and swam with them. I think it made everyone smile.”

Being there to support other Camp Mystic campers and their families has been a priority since the flood. Hannah and her family have been attending a lot of funerals this summer.

At the reunion, Hannah mentioned that the younger campers were talking about camp next year. Rebecca hopes that they can come back and recover, rebuild and do whatever is needed.

“I would definitely go back,” Hannah said. “And so would a lot of my friends.”

The outpouring of the community has been comforting. Hannah attends St. Stephen’s Episcopal School which has been supportive to her family during this time.

“Once the sun rose [after the flood],” Hannah said. “I felt like there were so many people there helping. People were flying us food, helicopters from all over Texas supported the evacuation.”

Recently, Hannah and some of her camp friends went to P. Terry’s Burger Stand who’d pledged profits for the relief effort. A conversation with a woman led to an endearing interaction.

“One of my friends was wearing a Camp Mystic shirt and she saw it and said, ‘Oh my gosh, do you go to Camp Mystic?’ and my friend  answered that all of us did. She started crying and said, ‘I’m so sorry, just know that all of Texas is here for you guys’.”