00:01For nearly a century, Camp Mystic has been a safe haven for young girls who spent summers there, forging friendships
00:09that last a lifetime.
00:12But early Friday morning, the idyllic retreat was ravaged by torrential rain.
00:17You'd see kayaks like in trees and it was kind of horrific. It didn't look like Camp Mystic anymore.
00:25And raging floodwaters that rose 30 feet in a single hour.
00:30Heroic counselors and staff members jumped into action, saving more than 700 campers caught in the storm.
00:37Like Emma Foles, who officials say helped get her 14 campers to safety.
00:42The camp's director, Dick Eastland, died while trying to save girls from the rising waters.
00:47His grandson writing,
00:48If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he
00:55so loved and cared for.
00:56His impact will never leave the lives he touched.
01:00Staff member Brooke Beard says she managed to escape through a cabin window as waist-high water rushed in.
01:07We had no clue about what those little girls were going through at that time.
01:12Soon, word of the damage and the dozens missing began to spread.
01:16Girls were looking for their sisters and their cousins and there was a lot of tears.
01:22Brooke says in those moments, the camp counselors stepped up to help anyone they could.
01:27So many lives were saved because of 18-year-olds.
01:31These photos depicting the heartbreaking aftermath as we're learning some of the names of the young lives lost,
01:38including 18-year-old Chloe Childress, a camp counselor who's being remembered for her compassion.
01:43Nine-year-old Janie Hunt, a first-time camper.
01:48And eight-year-old Renee Simastrala, whose uncle wrote she will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic.
01:55Now, the tight-knit community leaning on each other and their faith.
01:59At a nearby reunification center, emotional embraces between campers and their families.
02:09And this touching image, a bus full of girls evacuating through scenes of unthinkable destruction.
02:17Oh my God.
02:19Uniting in song.
02:20I'll shout it from the mountaintops, praise God.
02:24Camp tradition of friendship and faith.
02:27There we go.
02:28There we go.
02:28Gracias.
