Gut-wrenching letters written by girls staying at Camp Mystic have started to arrive at their families’ homes a week after they tragically died in horror floods.
At least 27 girls and staff at the Christian summer camp in Kerr County, Texas lost their lives when flash flooding swept through their campsite on the Guadalupe River.
Officials said at least 120 people have died in the floods, and over 170 people are still missing.
In the heartbreaking days since hearing their girls were not coming home, the parents’ anguish was compounded as they received letters the campers had written home while they got ready for the July 4th holiday weekend.
Douglas McLeod, the grandfather of Blakely McRory, 8, one of the girls lost to the floods, said he was sent a note by her after she arrived at the summer camp, according to a Facebook tribute to her.
He did not say what Blakely wrote in her last letter, her mother Lindsey said the eight-year-old was a loving and warm girl, and ‘little corner of the world is a better and brighter place because Blakely was here.’
‘While we hoped for a miracle, it has been confirmed that Blakely’s life was lost on the Guadalupe that early morning, along with so many others,’ Lindsey said.
‘Although we must mourn her absence, we will choose to celebrate her life.’
With efforts to find the staggering number of people that are unaccounted for still ongoing, families have been searching for possessions that were left behind from the devastating floods.
Stacy Stevens, the mother of Mary Stevens, who also died in the floods at Camp Mystic, said she is hoping to find her daughter’s favorite stuffed monkey in the debris.
She wrote in a Facebook group dedicated to the flood recovery efforts: ‘Looking for my daughter’s monkey that she has had her whole life and took with her to camp.’
‘We lost my daughter and would love to have it back as it was her most prized possession. It has her name on the tag — a square sticker with Mary Barrett Stevens on it. Please call me if you find it,’ she wrote, per the New York Post.
At least 160 people are still missing in the flood-hit area, with many feared to be children washed away by the disaster.
Officials say they are holding out hope that some may still be found alive, with some survivors saying they clung to trees for hours in desperate attempts to remain out of the fast moving currents.
As of Thursday, over 100 bodies have been recovered from flood waters, including 36 children, but the death toll is expected to grow as searches continue.
It comes as President Donald Trump traveled to the site of the horror floods on Friday.
He shared a tender moment with First Lady Melania Trump as he prepared to fly to Kerr County, putting his arm around her in a somber moment.
‘It’s a terrible thing,’ Trump said. ‘We’re going to be there with some of the great families and others, the governor, everybody.’
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will join the Trumps on the trip.
Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Texas earlier this week.
The president, unlike in other disasters, has not cast blame on anyone for the tragedy, calling it a horrible accident.
‘I would just say this is a hundred-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch,’ the president said on Sunday.