Texas Resort and Communities Devastated by Flash Floods

The Guadalupe Keys RV Resort's logo featured a cartoon turtle playing a guitar, alongside a piña colada and a palm tree, evoking a relaxed, tropical atmosphere. David Chambers, who purchased the land in 2006, was drawn to the property's 250 feet of Guadalupe River beachfront in Center Point, Texas.

Last Thursday, the resort was fully occupied, with rental trailers filled with people anticipating a Fourth of July weekend along the river. Children played on the beach, and people barbecued under the shade of cypress trees, waving at those floating by on inner tubes.

However, on Friday morning, Chambers's paradise was lost as flash floods swept through Hill Country with little warning. Chambers, a Vietnam War veteran, described the scene as a "war zone."

By late Monday, officials reported at least 104 deaths and countless missing individuals. The mayor of Kerrville, a city that had become a hub for emergency workers, warned of a difficult week ahead as search efforts transitioned into a recovery phase.

Chambers received word of the incoming flood at 6 a.m. on Friday and rushed to the resort. By the time he arrived, water was already reaching the RVs. His business partner, Drew Yancey, who lived on-site, was frantically helping people to safety. The river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. By 7 a.m., all the campers were safe, but the river had destroyed their property, leaving only a few jagged stumps.

Along a 120-kilometer stretch of the Guadalupe, similar scenes were tragically common by Monday afternoon. Search and rescue volunteers searched for bodies along the shoreline.

Thirty kilometers northwest in Ingram, searchers from Texas EquuSearch navigated a riverfront littered with downed trees, guided by the smell of decay. Jeremy Edelstein lamented the loss of the area's recreational activities. He lost an RV and three trailers.

In trees around Ingram, debris clung to branches high above the ground. Police closed public access to the highway leading further upriver, where the death toll at a summer camp reached 27.

At the Ingram Little League baseball field, the outfield wall stanchions were bent in the direction of the river's flow. Next door, the Hill Country Arts Foundation was preparing for a production of Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville. The entire set, props, and costumes were swept away. Both the outdoor and indoor theaters sustained heavy damage. A volunteer construction crew arrived to repair what they could, but the future of the water-logged buildings remained uncertain.