In the early morning hours of the day Americans prepared to celebrate our independence with cookouts and fireworks, rain poured in the Texas hill country. In 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River, prone to flash flooding, rose an astonishing 26 feet. People in the direct path of the bursting waters stood little chance. As of Sunday evening, 82 people had been confirmed dead, with dozens still missing.
In those 45 minutes, and in the hours and days that followed, heroes showed their mettle, and saints showed their faith. A father of two died saving his family. Camp Mystic owner Dick Eastland, 70, died trying to save several young girls from rising waters. Teenage camp counselors helped young children escape through cabin windows to higher ground. Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan, 26, a New Jersey native, helped save 165 victims who had been washed away.
Among the dead are at least 28 children, the majority of them young girls who were asleep in their summer camp cabins when the water raged in. Some, though, were simply camping on the banks of the river with their families – like Blair, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11. These sisters from Dallas were washed away from a cabin they were sharing with their grandparents, and were found dead 12 hours later with rosaries and with their hands “locked together.” We have no doubt that they are now in Mary’s loving arms.
Still missing are grandparents Mike and Charlene Harber. “Prayers are needed so we can bring them home,” said one of their daughters, Jennifer Harber.
Yes, prayers are needed, and we should not hesitate to fall to our knees, begging our merciful God for consolation for the families left behind and for salvation for those gone ahead. Pope Leo XIV also called for prayers after mentioning the tragedy in his Angelus audience July 6. “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States,” he said. “We pray for them.”
With so many missing, family members remain in limbo at local reunification centers – among them a Catholic Church in Kerrville, Texas – praying for a miracle. Social media has been swarmed with the faces of the missing, and many people have asked for each person to be remembered by name. If we can do nothing else, we must do this.
Now is also the time to act. Consider making a donation to Catholic Charities USA. If you’re local, Notre Dame Church in Kerrville has been accepting donations, and the Archdiocese of San Antonio, including Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, has been actively present.
Finally, such a devastating event beckons each of us to spend time in meaningful reflection. None of us knows when we will die – as Scripture says, we “know neither the day, nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13). We don’t know if death will be lingering or sudden. But we can prepare every day for a good death – a holy death – by fulfilling Jesus’s commandments to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind, and to love others as one’s self. In doing so, we will grow in the virtue that allows us to respond at any hour, and in any situation, with the abundant faith, hope and love exhibited by so many of God’s precious children on this holiday weekend. When our hour comes, may we, too, confidently reach for our rosaries and the sure hand of one we love.
May God be with all of those who have died in this great tragedy, and with all of those who mourn them.
