Texas floods death toll in Kerr County hits 96
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For decades, Dick and Tweety Eastland presided over Camp Mystic with a kind of magisterial benevolence that alumni well past childhood still describe with awe.
Abby, who was 8 years old and a student at Casis Elementary, is the third child from Austin confirmed to have died in the July 4 flood. At least 96 people — 60 adults and 36 children — have died and more than 160 are still missing in Kerr County.
The body of a young Houston girl reported missing during the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County has been found.
Some camps in the region had to be evacuated, and local newspapers described how Camp Mystic was among those cut off from the outside world. According to a Kerr County history book, floodwaters at Camp Mystic almost reached the top of the dining hall’s stairs.
At least 19 of the cabins at Camp Mystic were located in designated flood zones, including some in an area deemed “extremely hazardous” by the county.
Richard “Dick” Eastland, the owner and director of Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas, died while helping campers get to safety during the devastating floods that impacted the area last week. Eastland, who was the third generation from his family to manage the camp, was 74.
Neither will ever get a chance to fulfill those dreams. The twins, who had just finished second grade, died along with 25 other campers and counselors at Camp Mystic in horrific flooding in the Texas Hill Country that killed dozens more Friday. The girls left behind a devastated big sister along with their parents.
Traditional summer camps are, by design, exposed to nature. As climate change makes summers more intense, how much should parents worry?