“Terror at Camp Mystic”: Heartbreaking Image of Little Girl Clinging to Tree Highlights Texas Flood Horror
A haunting image of a young girl clinging to a tree above the raging Guadalupe River has gone viral amid devastating flash floods that swept through Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 4, 2025.
“She traveled 12 miles downriver before being rescued.” — News 4 Antonio
The deluge, triggered by record-breaking rainfall, caused the river to surge over 20 feet in under 90 minutes, washing out the historic summer camp. At least 20 campers, aged 7 to 17, remain missing. Two, tragically, have been found dead: Renee Smajstrla and Janie Hunt.
Camp Mystic, a cherished Christian retreat attended for generations by Texas’s political elite, became the site of chaos as floodwaters tore through cabins. Parents rushed from across the state to San Antonio as names of the missing began to circulate: Hadley Hanna, Lainey Landry, Virginia Hollis, and Greta Toranzo among them.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state remains in “search-and-rescue posture,” while Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson praised the “first responders working under dangerous conditions.”
The Guadalupe River’s surge marks its worst flooding in 40 years.