Colossal cleanup effort allows summer camp to reopen after Texas floods
'Our campers will be able to enjoy our riverfront activities much sooner now,' said Ken Kaiser, the director of facility operations for the camp. 'In the midst of heartache, we got to see the best of humanity through these volunteers who came from all over Texas and beyond.'
Camp Camp is located in Centre Point, Texas, and offers a series of five-night sleep-away sessions in the summer for children and adults aged five to 55 years old with mild to severe disabilities.
The camp welcomes more than 800 campers each summer, and every visitor is given a 1:1 counsellor ratio to accommodate their needs. It has been in operation for 46 years and hosts the same activities as regular camps, including horseback riding, swimming, sports, archery and more.
The herculean rehabilitation of the area where Camp Camp is located, a 55-acre property nestled in the Texas hills along the banks of the Guadalupe River, all began with a Facebook post on 8 July from an Austin real estate agent, Cord Shiflet. Debris had covered the landscape, destroying the waterfront and crucial amenities for the camp, including picnic benches for the children to eat at, had been ruined.
Shiflet made a plea for 'money, manpower, and machines'. By the following day, 250 volunteers arrived. The numbers doubled by Friday, with people braving the mud and conditions to haul food supplies, excavators and chainsaws to the area. Some workers who came down to help reported meeting as many as 1,500 people while they were there.
'The energy at Camp Camp was focused, focused on the mission of making it beautiful again,' said Colette Kerns, who drove down with her husband, Jason, to volunteer at the cleanup. 'Everyone had a job to do and worked seamlessly together to get it done.'
Colette's husband spent five hours a day using a chainsaw to clear fallen trees and debris, while she organized the kitchen area and helped load logs into trucks to be hauled away.
The couple, who are parents of two children with special needs, said they understood how vital this camp is to the families who rely on it.
'It's more than just a place,' said Colette. 'It is a space where children are embraced, understood and celebrated.'
Another hero of the rehabilitation project was Rusty Bourland, who, in numerous Facebook posts about the cleanup, has been praised for his hard work, resilience and determination.
Bourland was at a wedding in Dripping Springs, Texas, when he began receiving calls from people seeking assistance in the aftermath of the floods. Having helped with relief work during Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Bill, he had experience in rebuilding. Still, he had no idea when he packed one change of clothes that he would actually be down there for six and a half days. He told his wife he was loading a machine and driving south.
'Driving down it felt unknown,' Bourland said. 'We were all being told to not just self-deploy, but nothing compares to this in terms of human devastation.'
Bourland, who owns a landscape construction business, said there were days when about 70 machines were on the property. He recalled that the energy was somber as volunteers witnessed many bodies being recovered from the surrounding area. He plans on seeking professional help now that he's home.
'I told everyone, 'Look, we're basically faced with the most difficult situation imaginable,' but as Texans, we try our best to thrive on adversity,' he recounted. 'I compartmentalized and tried to keep people positive.'
The death toll from the flash floods, which started on the Fourth of July holiday, has now climbed to 135 people. With more than 150 people still missing, authorities are warning that the number of casualties could continue to rise.
The floods are being described as one of the worst natural disasters in Texas history.
The Guadalupe River rose 26ft in 45 minutes, and according to a preliminary estimate by the private forecaster AccuWeather, the economic toll of this could range from $18bn to $22bn. The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has since stated that he would allow debate in the Texas legislature on the state's flood warning system, but has given no guarantees on how the outcome will unfold.
For Gigi Hudnall, whose son Kenny was able to attend Camp Camp again this year, the camaraderie in the reopening has been remarkable. This is the 11th year Kenny will have visited, and Hudnall believes the work they did to make this happen was nothing short of miraculous.
'It gives these kids something they don't usually have – freedom,' she said.
'When we heard about the floods, our hearts broke, for the lives lost and for the camps. It makes me proud to be among people who care and will give to help kids like my son.'
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