PERSONAL: ‘My heart goes out to all those little girls’ - Texas residents devastated by deadly floods

Record ID: 1987286

  • Title: PERSONAL: ‘My heart goes out to all those little girls’ - Texas residents devastated by deadly floods
  • Date: 6th July 2025
  • Summary: HUNT, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (JULY 6, 2025) (REUTERS ) VARIOUS OF DESTROYED HEART O’ THE HILLS CAMPGROUND MACON WARE CLEARING DEBRIS FROM HIS PROPERTY (SOUNDBITE)(English) MACON WARE, 78-YEAR-OLD RETIRED DENTIST AND HUNT, TEXAS RESIDENT, SAYING: “I was praying for rain the day before. We had a 40% chance of rain. That's pretty good for here, and little did we know.” DRONE AE
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Camp Mystic Heart O' the Hills camp Hunt Texas deadly flooding floods personal
  • Location: HUNT, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • City: HUNT, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Floods,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001775606072025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The day before catastrophic floods in Texas left at least 67 people dead as of Sunday (July 6), 78-year-old retired dentist Macon Ware said he was hoping for rain to help the grass around his Hunt, Texas house grow.
    “We had a 40% chance of rain, that’s pretty good for here, and little did we know,” Ware told Reuters on Sunday (July 6).
    The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday (July 4) morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).
    A day after the disaster struck, summer camp Camp Mystic was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83 m) from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.
    Ware’s five granddaughters had just finished a summer camping session at Camp Mystic, the all-girls camp where dozens of campers were swept away in the flood.
    “Some of their friends were there for the second session and my heart goes out to all those little girls,” Ware said.
    Ware’s property is on higher ground near the Guadalupe River, so the damage his home sustained was minimal and limited to downed trees and scattered rocks throughout his yard.  However, the camp next to his home, Heart o’ the Hills, was destroyed and the camp’s director, Jane Ragsdale, died during the flood, as did Camp Mystic director Richard “Dick” Eastland. Ware was close with both camp directors.
    “They were very important people in the camping community and what I worry about most is its effect on the future of the camps,” Ware said. “It’s rather dismal now.”
    The nearby home of Ware’s close friends and fellow Hunt, Texas residents, Sandra and Tom Killian, was destroyed inside by floodwaters. Sandra said her dog Rex likely saved their lives.
    “My dog, who’s way laid back, wouldn’t quiet,” Killian said. “[The water] got up to four feet in nothing flat. If we’d waited five more minutes, we would’ve been one of these people down the river holding on to a tree.”
    (Production: Evan Garcia, Alexandra Sarabia)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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