I just... can't today.
I was raised in Kerrville Tx, and went to summer camp at Camp Stewart, which is owned by the same group that owns Heart o' the Hills, who had a loss while trying to help other counselors while the river continued to rise. My family is very familiar with the Ragsdale family who owns these camps, and Jane Ragsdale was "swept away" trying to help others. Her name was released this morning. All of this is right down the road from Camp Mystic where there are 20+ girls still missing. While I did not know this other family, "the mother of missing Camp Mystic camper Janie Hunt, 9, told CNN in a message this morning that her daughter has passed away."
I moved away from Kerrville to Atlanta at 17, but was raised in the hill country and know many out there.
Spent most of yesterday checking on friends, friends of friends, along side my cousin who also knows people out there, and seeing if there was any information and anything I could do from way over here. I found out this morning that the Glen Rose Cemetery in Kerrville which is just across route 27 from the flooded Guadalupe River is only moderately damaged. That is where my mother rests. A local store and BBQ place along side a volunteer fire department in Hunt Tx is "entirely gone." That town is closest to these summer camps I am talking about.
I am not going to comment much on Texas politics overall, don't care much for it, but Kerrville has less than 25K people living there, many retired from Houston, Austin, and the like. Quiet community known for the arts, hill country, rodeos, summer camps, hunting, fishing, retreats, etc. Local officials, police and Kerr county sheriffs, are literally the people that live next door doing all they can in awful conditions looking for as so many still missing. If there was some sort of delay in notifications I cannot imagine why but I can say the Guadalupe River, and further west where there is a south and north fork, took so much water so fast that it was realized within minutes (not hours.) Records were nearly broken, both in river flood peak and time to get there. What I cannot find is direct evidence "local officials" sat back and watched a mess play out just cause.
Bash if you must, but at least get it right and consider carefully social media litigating what they know... really, what they do not know.
In the meantime I am going on little sleep, and even less patience, concerned for a few I have not heard from yet, and while there are families out there looking for their little girls as young as perhaps 8 (earlier I was told the missing were 11-13, looks like things are getting worse before getting better.)
www.newsweek.com
www.texasobserver.org
Its like you libs think that life isnt possible if the central authority isnt in charge of literally every fricking thing
en.m.wikipedia.org
