{"id":750,"date":"2025-07-10T00:38:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T00:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2025-07-10T00:38:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T00:38:55","slug":"mother-of-three-says-her-youngest-daughter-was-lifted-out-of-shoulder-high-floodwaters-by-camp-counselor-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"Mother of Three Says Her Youngest Daughter Was Lifted Out of Shoulder-High Floodwaters by Camp Counselor (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Texas mother is speaking out after her three young daughters survived the deadly floods at Camp Mystic against all odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lisa Miller, a former camper and counselor at Camp Mystic, explains that she and her husband Nicholas were celebrating their anniversary on a beach in France when they first heard about \u201csome flooding\u201d at the camp. Initially, Miller didn\u2019t think it was serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having once been stranded on a hill during a flood as a counselor, she says flooding at the camp is usually minor, and there\u2019s a clear protocol until waters subside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, when Miller learned that two girls from her friend\u2019s youngest daughter\u2019s cabin were found down the Guadalupe River, she realized the situation was truly \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though she didn\u2019t immediately receive updates from camp staff\u2014who were \u201cconsumed with the crisis\u201d \u2014 after texting camp director Mary Liz Eastland, Miller was relieved to find out her daughters were safe. However, dozens of campers and an entire cabin were missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The camp director\u2019s father-in-law, Richard “Dick” Eastland, who owned the camp, was also missing and was later found dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way Miller\u2019s daughters managed to escape the rising floodwaters still amazes her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her oldest daughter Eliza, 14, was on \u201cSenior Hill,\u201d at the camp\u2019s highest point, and experienced a \u201ctypical\u201d flood. Her cabin was isolated from the rest of the camp, and at first, the girls thought they were simply enduring a bad storm \u2014 even taking photos, unaware of the danger below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genevieve, 12, was in the last cabin in an area called \u201cthe flats.\u201d Miller says a counselor ran to the camp office around 2 a.m. to report their cabin was flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That warning prompted an evacuation, with the camp owner driving campers\u2014including Genevieve\u2014to safety at the Rec Hall. But as water rapidly filled that building, they moved to a balcony above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe water kept rising, nearly touching the balcony, with waves crashing right beneath,\u201d Miller recalls. The girls were frightened, but heroic counselors kept them calm by singing camp songs and praying until the waters finally receded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller\u2019s youngest, 9-year-old Birdie, woke up around 2:30 a.m. due to the storm. She went to the bathroom and noticed the floodwaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counselors soon woke the children and told them to put their belongings on the beds because the flood outside made the door impossible to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a counselor broke a window, the children were handed one by one to the camp owner for evacuation. Birdie told her mom the water reached her shoulders and that a counselor eventually lifted her onto their back to carry her to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three girls were airlifted by Black Hawk helicopter to a reunification center, where they were reunited with Miller\u2019s mother and stepfather while she and her husband were still abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am still overwhelmed,\u201d Miller admits. \u201cThe layers of this loss are unimaginable \u2014 the heartbreak over the missing children and their families is foremost in everyone\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though floods have occurred before, Miller says nothing could have prepared anyone for the scale of this disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she believes government budget cuts played a role, Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Services employees\u2019 union, told CNN the office had \u201cadequate staffing and resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahy noted that the Austin-San Antonio office, key for flood forecasting and warnings in the area, lacks a warning coordination meteorologist\u2014a crucial link between forecasters and emergency management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, Miller describes her feelings as a mixture of \u201cheartbreak\u201d over the tragedy and \u201cgratitude\u201d that her daughters are safe, as well as appreciation for the staff who saved them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe received the first letters of the term the day the girls returned \u2014 each said it was \u2018the best term ever,\u2019 and they were thrilled to be back with friends,\u201d Miller says. \u201cThey all said their counselors were the best they\u2019d ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those \u201cincredible\u201d counselors, she adds, \u201csaved their lives with quick thinking, and we can never repay them enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Texas mother is speaking out after her three young daughters survived the deadly floods at Camp Mystic against all odds. Lisa Miller, a former camper and counselor at Camp Mystic, explains that she and her husband Nicholas were celebrating their anniversary on a beach in France when they first heard about \u201csome flooding\u201d at…<\/p>\n

Read More “Mother of Three Says Her Youngest Daughter Was Lifted Out of Shoulder-High Floodwaters by Camp Counselor (Exclusive)”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":753,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions\/753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}