Hundreds of campers reunite with parents after deadly Guadalupe River flooding: 'We didn't stop to sleep'
Campers embrace after arriving to a reunification area as girls from Camp Waldemar, near the North fork of the Guadalupe River, are reconnected with their families after heavy rainfall in Central Texas, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle)
KERRVILLE, Texas - Hundreds of parents waited hours Saturday for busloads of girls to arrive in Kerrville after their four-week stay at Camp Waldemar was cut short by the Guadalupe River flash flood that left more than 40 dead.
Dazed and exhausted, Dallas resident Reagan Browning joined the worried crowd outside the Arcadia Live theater in downtown Kerrville. He abandoned his Gunnison, Colorado, vacation Friday as parents were alerted to the evacuation, and drove all night to reunite with his two daughters, ages 9 and 12, who were one week into their summer camp visit.
"We didn't stop to sleep," Browning said.
Some parents came from as far as Arkansas and Louisiana to pick up their children.
Campers and staff from Camp Waldemar, near the North fork of the Guadalupe River, are reunited with their families after heavy rainfall in Central Texas, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle)
The kids were sent home Saturday after the camp, nestled in the Hunt community along the Guadalupe's north fork, lost power and cell phone service when deadly floodwaters inundated the main waterway Friday, Browning said. Another parent waiting for pickup said they hadn't spoken to their daughter as she did not have a phone to call home - or receive potential weather alerts.
The camp along FM 1340 was spared the worst of the damage but was unable to continue operations, Browning said. Elsewhere, 27 girls were unaccounted for at the nearby Camp Mystic, located on Texas 39 along the main river. The National Weather Service had forecasted up to six inches of rain for the region Thursday into Friday, officials said, but 10 inches fell and the river water surged as many campers and vacationers slept.
Around 850 people were rescued as of Saturday, authorities said.
The road along Texas 39 along the Guadalupe River is damaged after heavy rainfall in Central Texas, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle)
The Waldemar campers were kept in the dark about the extent of the damage until they boarded school buses and saw the devastation stretched over 17 miles for themselves, Browning said. A line of cars followed the buses as they entered Kerrville, where the girls would have seen washed out roadways, uprooted trees stripped of bark and mangled trailers from their windows.
Browning told his daughters he loved them as they met again.
At least five busloads of children and several trailers packed with sticker-adorned camp trunks arrived at the theater over several hours. Similar reunions for more than 700 children started Friday and stretched to 2 a.m. Saturday at Ingram Elementary School around 6 miles away, Ingram ISD superintendent Bobby Templeton said.
Campers and staff from Camp Waldemar, near the North fork of the Guadalupe River, are reunited with their families after heavy rainfall in Central Texas, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle)
Seth McCutcheon, a retired Marine, said he was eager to help the campers as he has family ties to Mystic and other nearby camps. He rushed to the theater that afternoon to help unload the dozens of trunks and other luggage.
"There can't be too many helpers," McCutcheon said.
As the final round of luggage arrived, he considered where he's needed next and the fate of those who remained missing.
"I'll be waiting and praying," he said.
The Camp Waldemar issued a statement Friday announcing that everyone was safe and accounted for.
"Please join us in praying for our friends and neighbors in our camp community," the statement read.
