cef88 said:

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Then the Media can go through appropriate channels i.e. Press conferences and asking officials questions. Badgering people that are going through terrible tragedy isn't it.

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Well you see, he said it's a national interest story, so that supersedes those needs for formality. His response said it all for me

dermdoc said:

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Thanks for all the prayers and support. I still have my peace and strength from the Lord. This is going to be a really tough week for all the families who lost loved ones so keep those prayers coming.

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I will not stop. Praying for all the families out there impacted by this tragedy.

I'd reach out to a local area church and donate that way - directly delivering it to them.

My heart hurts for everyone involved in this horrible tragedy. I'm sitting here at work reading all the posts and it makes me feel sick. I'll pray for you guys. As many others on here...I have little kids the ages of the kids in the camps and it it's unimaginable. The stories coming in are horrific. I don't know how I can help..but I really want to.

MediAg13 said:

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I have been following and refreshing this thread non stop since it started just hoping for good news. I don't know DermDoc personally and have never met him but he impacted me tremendously through a PM years ago that I doubt he even remembers. I continue to hope and pray for his family and everyone else affected by this.

As a Christian who grew up attending church every weekend and through college, I haven't attended a regular service since Covid. Life is too busy with work and kids to get there it feels like. After seeing the strength of everyone directly impacted by this and watching Him work through those girls, I will be taking my family and three kids back every Sunday again. This isn't about me but I hope that it is a silver lining that is impacting others the same way and motivating them to put Christ back in the center of their lives.

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I had to go back and refresh my memory. Glad it helped you.
Gig 'em and God Bless!

Swan Song said:

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I trust this group more than the internet, so posing this question here.

This is probably even too early but our employee group here in houston wants to help. We would be willing to collect gift cards, cash, or physical items. We just don't know who the best organization to donate to is at this point. We are a credit union so we can collect from our employees and members and potentially help many folks. Any direction would be appreciated.

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Reach out to Samaritan's Purse. They are excellent.

Is there a link for the press conference?

aviationag said:

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Swan Song said:

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I trust this group more than the internet, so posing this question here.

This is probably even too early but our employee group here in houston wants to help. We would be willing to collect gift cards, cash, or physical items. We just don't know who the best organization to donate to is at this point. We are a credit union so we can collect from our employees and members and potentially help many folks. Any direction would be appreciated.

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Reach out to Samaritan's Purse. They are excellent.

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I feel like Samaritans Purse and HEB are really the only organizations I trust.

schwack schwack said:

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Is there a link for the press conference?

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KSAT carried audio for it yesterday on YouTube and their website

Can we get a note taker again? I'm at breakfast.

Thank you it's live now.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2025/07/07/officials-to-hold-news-conference-on-deadly-kerr-county-floods/

27 children deceased - 9 unidentified - that 27 number is consistent with the Mystic PR

EJD said:

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27 children deceased - 9 unidentified

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RE: those 9. Does this mean they've recovered the bodies and haven't ID'd them yet or that they haven't yet been recovered?

New here and wanted to thank you all for having an adult conversation about this. Other social media platforms are just an absolute mess and cesspool of blaming and hate right now.

I had 2 daughters at Camp Honey Creek. I picked them up yesterday morning and we are currently dealing with the mental aspects of it.

My family has a lot of ties in the area, and we know a lot of people from the camps and lives that were lost. It's just such a messed up situation all around.

Sending lots of love to people who were affected.

Sounds like they have been recovered just not identified. That was my understanding from his comments.

Sen. Cruz just said 10 campers unidentified. Seems to conflict. Not sure the math.

EJD said:

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Sounds like they have been recovered just not identified. That was my understanding from his comments.

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Thanks. We have some friends there still waiting (or at least since last we heard from them) on confirmation for their granddaughter who is/was missing.

The little girl's name is Kelly Anne Lytal in case anyone has heard anything. Thanks.

They seem consistent that there are 10 campers unaccounted for. I read that as they are still missing, not just unidentified.

Grand niece I Believe

At least how they broke out the numbers previously -

# of deceased, adults and children counted separately.
# of children deceased, includes Mystic & Non-Mystic kids
# of unidentified - bodies recovered, not included in the death count
# of missing from Camp Mystic - not deceased, not found, not identified
# of missing from Kerr County - next of kin has followed the steps to report the individual missing to the tip line and their last verified location was Kerr County, with the note this is not a cumulative missing list because law enforcement has not tracked down known campers, etc.

Bayou City said:

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Grand niece I Believe

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No, Kelley Anne Lytal is their granddaughter.

We have another friend who lost a grand-niece - Linnie McCown

Dermdoc, Badace, Agliving06, and everyone personally affected by this tragedy - 5th generation Texan here, and although I've never lived in the hill country, my mom and sister both went to Camp Mystic and I've been there to pick her up back in the 90's. I also have a 14 year old son and an 11 year old daughter, and she could have been at Mystic this week (we were looking at this week at Mystic, but we/she chose to attend another summer camp in the DFW area). God's providence and protection in action.

Regarding the press harassing families, when I was 11 my grandfather was lost in a private plane crash down in the lower laguna madre, this was '87. They went down just before Thanksgiving and due to weather, were lost for 3 days. We feared the worst but hoped for the best. He was my best friend at the time and had introduced me to quail hunting, bass fishing and bird dogs. He was responsible for my lifelong obsession with the outdoors. I was devastated of course, but the press parked outside my grandmother's house and not knowing his fate for 3 days were the most gut wrenching experiences of my life. Having not had any contact with human death yet, once they recovered him and his friends, deep emotional scars were left that didn't heal for many years. I learned early on in life that while the press' intentions may have been good, they did not handle my family's tragedy with much respect.

A year down the road I was really struggling, so my mom and dad sent me to a faith-based summer camp in East Texas and I met the Lord and have been walking with him through life's trials and tribulations ever since. During times of sorrow and grief, I take comfort in God's Word, particularly the Old Testament, as God's wisdom and love are revealed in the beautiful poetic style of much of the OT.

Please know that I and my family are praying for each of you and for all of the affected families, and take comfort in the words of the prophet Joel, who wrote of a devastating natural disaster, Judah's response, and God's response to His people:

Joel 2:12-13: Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents in sending calamity.... (v28-32): And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

Our church recommends the following Christian site for giving:


https://www.texansonmission.org/


https://www.texansonmission.org/ways-to-give


The top management team are Aggies.

Cruz did a great job handling those questions

Thank you for the testimony. Tragedy is a part of this fallen world. God is good. All the time.

dermdoc said:

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Thank you for the testimony. Tragedy is a part of this fallen world. God is good. All the time.

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Your faith in the midst of this devastating tragedy encourages us all, derm. I've found that the faith necessary to believe in God in the first place is easy; the faith to trust God and believe in His love when horror strikes is the tough part.

EJD said:

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Sen. Cruz just said 10 campers unidentified. Seems to conflict. Not sure the math.

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Just an aside but at least one of his kids attends camp in Hunt. One of the camps that wasn't badly affected.

Guitarsoup said:

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aviationag said:

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Swan Song said:

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I trust this group more than the internet, so posing this question here.

This is probably even too early but our employee group here in houston wants to help. We would be willing to collect gift cards, cash, or physical items. We just don't know who the best organization to donate to is at this point. We are a credit union so we can collect from our employees and members and potentially help many folks. Any direction would be appreciated.

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Reach out to Samaritan's Purse. They are excellent.

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I feel like Samaritans Purse and HEB are really the only organizations I trust.

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I did disaster relief full time for a couple of years and SP and HEB and Home Depot were always on site, visible, and impactful. Zero question they are worthy of support. But if anyone wants to get even more granular, the local churches I always felt had the best handle on the situation in terms of organization and disbursing of supplies and care to those who needed it most. Makes sense of course. They live there, it's their people and their compassion is unmatched. They often already have teams set up for just this sort of thing and hit the ground running from minute one. However, they can sometimes be difficult to find ways to get donations to, so the above are safe bets as well in my experiences.

I would just say, everyone should keep your dollars away from Red Cross and federal resources. I won't go into particulars here, this is not the thread for that, but I personally know your aid will be more impactful elsewhere is where I will leave it.

During harvey, I was able to take one of my trucks and dump trailers and provide delivery services for donated supplies to impacted areas via church networks.

Anyone have a contact for something like that going on for this?

KingofHazor said:

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dermdoc said:

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Thank you for the testimony. Tragedy is a part of this fallen world. God is good. All the time.

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Your faith in the midst of this devastating tragedy encourages us all, derm. I've found that the faith necessary to believe in God in the first place is easy; the faith to trust God and believe in His love when horror strikes is the tough part.

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Reminds me of John 16 33

I have told you these things so that in Me, you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

****. I'm so sorry.

Independence H-D said:

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I would wonder why they'd assume anyone not found yet is dead. Yes, it's been 3+ days now, but you can survive for almost a week with no food. Water would obviously be an issue.


Experience.....

Finding a live victim at this point would be truly miraculous.

However, miracles do happen.

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Yep. It is sad to say, but the people involved in these rescues have been involved in situations like this before. My wife has some experience with these types of situations, and one of the things she has been saying is to pray for the people searching. It is really tough on them too, having experienced it before and wanting the best outcome for the families involved. They themselves probably having families, and some of them directly connected to the families of folks they are looking for. God bless them.

Who?mikejones! said:

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During harvey, I was able to take one of my trucks and dump trailers and provide delivery services for donated supplies to impacted areas via church networks.

Anyone have a contact for something like that going on for this?

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Realistically there aren't that many people impacted.

The biggest impact area was very low population, mostly open land and vacation properties. The big need is on the cleanup side.

Give me a minute. I texted a friend who is working with SAR.

rintintin221 said:

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Cruz did a great job handling those questions

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Yes he did. Told both sides to stop politicizing this.

BohunkAg said:

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Independence H-D said:

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I would wonder why they'd assume anyone not found yet is dead. Yes, it's been 3+ days now, but you can survive for almost a week with no food. Water would obviously be an issue.


Experience.....

Finding a live victim at this point would be truly miraculous.

However, miracles do happen.

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Yep. It is sad to say, but the people involved in these rescues have been involved in situations like this before. My wife has some experience with these types of situations, and one of the things she has been saying is to pray for the people searching. It is really tough on them too, having experienced it before and wanting the best outcome for the families involved. They themselves probably having families, and some of them directly connected to the families of folks they are looking for. God bless them.

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Digging for remains would be tough under any circumstances.

But when you know you're looking for kids…man. My mind won't even let me approach thinking about how traumatizing that would be.