Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain.

Blakely McCrory, an 8-year-old from Bellaire, wrote her mom a letter from Camp Mystic before she died in the July 4 flood.

Taaffe called the counselors at Camp Mystic “heroes” and wore a tie to honor them and the young girls who died during the Central Texas flood.

Bubble Inn saw generations of 8-year-olds enter as strangers and emerge as confident young ladies equipped with new skills from the great outdoors and lifelong friends – bonds that would one day prove vital in the face of unfathomable tragedy.

When Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls nestled in Texas Hill Country, experienced catastrophic flooding on July 4, Executive Director Richard “Dick” Eastland worked as quickly as he could to get his campers to safety.

Sheedy was one of at least 120 people who died in Central Texas. At least another 160 people were still missing as of Thursday. Flooding at the Christian all-girls summer camp, Camp Mystic, has become a defining image of the far-reaching natural disaster. Generations of Texas families sent their girls to that camp.