Parents are expressing deep gratitude for the quick actions of counselors at Camp La Junta in Texas, where fast-moving floodwaters threatened the safety of hundreds of boys during a deadly storm. The camp is located just a few miles from Camp Mystic, where at least 27 campers and staff tragically lost their lives.
Thirteen-year-old Tucker Hope recalled waking up on the morning of July 4 to find water surrounding his cabin. Counselors quickly sprang into action, urging the boys to grab their things and head upstairs to higher ground. “I could hear the counselors next door shouting, ‘Put on your shoes — we need to go now!’” Tucker told NBC affiliate KXAS.
Keli Rabon, whose sons Braeden (9) and Brock (7) were also attending the camp, shared that Brock had to climb to the top of his bunk bed to avoid rising water. He was trapped in a cabin with around 11 other boys and two counselors when the flooding hit. “He got out wearing nothing but a pair of shorts,” said Rabon, adding that her son doesn’t remember exactly how he was rescued. “No shirt, no socks, no shoes — just pure survival.”
Video shared by ABC affiliate KSAT showed a cabin used by La Junta counselors drifting down the Guadalupe River until it was eventually stopped by a tree. Fortunately, the staff members inside weren’t harmed.
Despite the chaos, all 400 campers and counselors from Camp La Junta were safely accounted for, thanks to the fast thinking of the staff, who led the boys up into cabins located on higher ground away from the flood zone, USA Today reported.
“They’re more than just counselors — they’re role models,” said Lindsay Pope, Tucker’s mom. “Tucker wasn’t even scared, and that says so much about how the staff handled it.”
Another mother, Georgie Brown, whose son Beau is 11, told USA Today that the counselors acted on instinct. “They didn’t wait for instructions. They saw what needed to be done and just did it. If it weren’t for them, the outcome could’ve been so much worse.”
Camp La Junta has been operating since 1928, according to its website, starting with just four campers and growing into a place where boys across generations build confidence and resilience.
Rabon later told CBS Mornings that seeing her sons again was both joyful and painful. “It’s a strange feeling — you’re so relieved to hold your children again, but at the same time, your heart breaks for the parents still searching. It’s like a kind of survivor’s guilt.”
As of July 9, The New York Times reports that at least 119 people have died from the floods in Texas, and 173 are still missing.
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