Two teenage camp counselors recalled the harrowing moment they wrote the names of the young girls they were caring for on the kids’ bodies in case they were swept away in the raging Texas floodwaters.
Silvana Garza and Maria Paula said they desperately put on a “happy face” to keep the children calm as they prepared to evacuate a branch of Camp Mystic — where at least 27 girls and camp counselors are confirmed dead and 11 more are still missing.
Counselors Silvana Garza and Maria Paula describe the moments they prepared to evacuate as raging floodwaters rose around them. NMas/YouTube
People survey the damage at Camp Mystic. DUSTIN SAFRANEK/EPA/Shutterstock“Us as counselors, we started to write our names on our skin, anywhere that was visible,” Paula told Mexican news outlet NMas in a Spanish-language interview Sunday.
“We did the same for the girls, wrote their names anywhere that was easy to see,” she added.
Furniture lies scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding. REUTERSSurvivors of the neighboring private all-girls summer camp flocked to the location where Garza and Paula worked as the Guadalupe River swelled.
Follow The Post’s coverage on the deadly Texas flooding
- Camp Mystic survivors heard screams in the dark as floodwaters hit hours earlier than previously thought
- Camp Mystic co-owner waited 45 minutes to evacuate campers after getting urgent ‘life-threatening’ flash floods alert
- Texas flood volunteers ordered to evacuate as heavy rainfall expected to strike devastated region
- Texas family mourns 8-year-old daughter confirmed dead in Camp Mystic flood disaster
As news poured in of the horror nearby, the pair said they were told to “put on a happy face” in order to not scare the younger girls.
Aerial map of Camp Mystic in Texas showing flood impact, highlighting senior and junior cabin locations relative to the Guadalupe River. Falon Wriede / NY Post Design“At the time, we started to prepare our girls because we thought we were also going to be evacuated,” Garza told the outlet.
Stuffed animals on the windowsill of a cabin at Camp Mystic. REUTERSEvery morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post’s signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here!
“We told them to pack a bag, to pack their favorite stuffed animal. We didn’t know if we were going to be evacuated or not. We were just waiting.”
At least 95 people have been killed in the historic floods — with dozens more people missing and the number of those killed only expected to rise.
