How the deadly Texas floods unfolded, devastating Kerrville and Camp Mystic

Texas Hill Country was unprepared for the July 4 nightmare flash floods that killed at least 120 people, with 173 still missing.

KERRVILLE, Texas — In the hours before the flood, the Miller girls — Eliza, Genevieve and Birdie — were eating fajitas in the Camp Mystic mess hall and watching counselors act in a “Wicked” skit. There was a dance party in the cabins closest to the Guadalupe River, where the littlest campers bunked. Then it was time for lights out.

Down the river, Lucas Brake and his wife, Irene, had invited Lucas’ parents to a cabin for a weekend of fishing and a July 4 barbecue. And 19-year-old Riata Schoepf and her boyfriend were out kayaking on the placid water before heading back to the River Inn Resort.

“The sun was shining like it was just perfect weather,” Schoepf said.

But there was a storm coming. The National Weather Service had sent out a warning in the afternoon.

Sometime before midnight, the rain started to fall. Hard. The river swelled and surged over its banks, suddenly rushing with a reckless violence that snapped trees, carried away victims as they slept, swallowed up the cars they fled in and pulled them under as they ran for higher ground. First responders couldn’t keep up, and in many cases didn’t get there in time. At least 129 people died and 166 are still missing, mostly from Kerr County.