Mr. President, it is with profound sadness that I am here with my colleague Senator Cruz to discuss the heartbreaking results of the catastrophic floods that occurred in our State, in Central Texas, over the Fourth of July weekend.
As most Texans were sleeping on the morning of July 4, a 100-year flood event caused the waters of the Guadalupe River to rise an astonishing 26 feet in 45 minutes. The loss of life was horrific. One media account said the flow rate of the Guadalupe River went from that of a small stream that you could wade across, at about 10 cubic feet per second, to a raging and destructive torrent of 120,000 cubic feet per second--an amount greater than the average flow rate across Niagara Falls.
We know that the loss of life was not confined to Kerr County, where Kerrville is located, but extended to other counties in Central Texas: Travis County, which is where Austin is located; Williamson County, just north of that; and Burnet County as well.
Of course, some here in the Nation's Capital and elsewhere are asking: How could this happen, and what, if anything, could we possibly do to prevent a recurrence? We can and we should try to answer those questions but not now. Now we need to focus on recovery efforts that are currently underway and to pray for and to think about the families that are grieving and those whose loved ones are still missing and unaccounted for. For now, I want to focus our attention on the victims and the heroes of this horrible tragedy.
More than 100 people died in Central Texas from this flooding, including 27 young campers--young girls mostly--ranging down to the age of 8 years old, as well as counselors at Camp Mystic, which we have heard so much about, a Christian girls summer camp.
This is a picture of Camp Mystic that I took from a department of public safety helicopter on Saturday morning. It is hard to see, but this is what it looked like from the air.
Ten campers and one counselor are still missing and remain unaccounted for in Kerr County.
As you can imagine, this is a sad time for Texas, and it has brought the Lone Star State to our knees in grief and in prayer. And I am glad to say I have heard so much--and I am sure my colleague has as well-- from friends and associates all around the United States sharing their condolences and concerns about what has happened over this last weekend.
While I was in Kerrville this last Saturday, I participated in an aerial tour, as I mentioned, and a car tour of the flooded areas. The damage I witnessed was nothing short of devastating, and this photo shows just some of the destruction that I witnessed there on the ground.
Bridges were washed out. Roads were destroyed. Entire homes were washed down the river. Trees were uprooted, and cars and other wreckage lodged nearly 30 feet up in the air in the trees.
I joined U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem, who was there representing the Trump administration, Governor Abbott and Representative Chip Roy--his district is where this incident is located--and other community leaders for a briefing and a press conference to discuss the combined government response to this disaster from Washington, DC, to the State to local officials.
During this briefing, Governor Abbott described people clinging to trees to save their lives. And I am sure by now, we have seen photos that are circulating on social media that show exactly that--people washed miles down the river, only to be lodged in the trees for extended periods of time, hoping and praying that someone would come to their aid.
I am beyond grateful to the efforts of Governor Abbott, President Trump, and Secretary Noem for their quick response in approving a Federal disaster declaration and ensuring that every available resource is being put forward in the rescue and recovery efforts throughout central Texas.
President Trump and Secretary Noem have been great partners, and I especially appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Secretary Noem reminded us all that the number one priority is people. So while there is a lot of damaged property--as you can see-- and destruction, damaged public infrastructure, first and foremost, we are united in working around the clock to ensure that as many people as possible are safe and, if possible, reunited with their families.
These rescue efforts at all levels of government have saved the lives of more than 850 people. Now, Texans are known for their tough spirit and their resilience. And this is not the first natural disaster that we have experienced, nor will it be our last. We know how to roll up our sleeves and do what is required to help those in need.
As a father of two daughters myself, my heart breaks for all those who are grieving and especially those who are holding out hope that somehow, someway their loved one may still be found.
On the aerial tour we took over Camp Mystic, many thousands of young girls made friends and grew in their faith and learned important life lessons along the banks of the Guadalupe River, a particularly beautiful and scenic part of our great State. They have done that for nearly a century of this camp's existence.
Now, I cannot imagine what many of these families are going through now as they mourn the loss of 27 of these young campers as well as their adult counselors.
While we try to wrap our heads around this heart-wrenching disaster, we can find some solace, some encouragement in the bravery exhibited by the heroes, some of whom died, helping save these young girls.
Among these is Dick Eastland, who was the director of Camp Mystic with his wife for many decades. Dick died while trying to save the lives of his young campers. Dick's grandson George Eastland described his grandfather as a hero, saying in a post on social media:
Another young man Julian Ryan lost his life while helping his own family, including a 13-month-old and a 6-year-old, escape from their trailer home as it was being washed away. While he put his two small children on top of a mattress to safely float, he attempted to break a window, cutting an artery in his arm that bled profusely. He was unconscious before help could arrive, but he died shortly thereafter, making sure that his family would live.
His sister said:
These words could not be more true of Julian and of all those whose names and stories we don't even know, who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live.
After another tragedy up I-35 in the small city of West, TX, where Senator Cruz and I were a little over a decade ago, I remember a county commissioner after the loss of many lives in an unexpected explosion there who said:
And that stuck with me and still sticks with me today because when things happen like this, as they invariably do, we all come together as a family.
In the midst of such horrific tragedy, we can find hope and strength in the stories of those who gave their all to help their fellow Texans and the first responders who miraculously saved 850 lives in high-water rescues.
One of those Coast Guard responders was a young man named Scott Ruskan, a rescue swimmer with the U.S. Coast Guard, who singlehandedly saved nearly 170 people. He helped shuttle young girls from the wreckage to the helicopters that brought them to safety, often carrying two of them in one arm. Scott and people like him are true American heroes.
First responders like him embody the spirit of patriotism and love and selfless sacrifice and service to their fellow Americans. The great courage shown by men and women like Scott, Julian, Dick, and others brings to mind the words of President Reagan back in 1981 during a Medal of Honor speech honoring Texas MSG Roy Benavidez for his heroism and courage during the Vietnam war. President Reagan said of the brave prisoners of war returning home--he asked:
So as Texans, we are all united in offering our prayers and support for all of the families who have lost loved ones and for those who still remain unaccounted for. My wife Sandy and I will especially keep the parents grieving the loss of their precious children in our prayers.
Mr. President, I would now invite the Senate to observe a moment of silence in honor of the flooding victims, their families, all who died, suffered injuries, who are still unaccounted for after these terrible floods.
Mr. President, Texas is grieving. Our hearts are shattered on what transpired in the early hours of Friday, July 4.
In just a few hours, over 1.8 trillion gallons of rain fell upon central Texas. The Guadalupe River--ordinarily a beautiful, peaceful, calm river--rose nearly 30 feet in less than an hour. The result was utter and complete devastation.
As we stand here today, there are over 100 Texans confirmed to be dead, and that number is still expected to rise. We have 27 girls and counselors confirmed dead from Camp Mystic, and that number, likewise, may well rise.
Many in this body may not be familiar with the Hill Country where this happened. I want to tell you a little bit about it. Hill Country is in central Texas. I love every part of our great State, but I think Hill Country is, by far, the most beautiful part of our State.
As the name suggests, there are rolling hills, beautiful rivers, and for a century, the Hill Country has been a place where young people across Texas have gone to summer camps. There are some 40 summer camps just in Kerr County.
And it has been a place where young girls, young boys go to make friends, to learn independence. Camp Mystic is one of the most storied camps in Texas. It is 100 years old, founded in 1926. For 100 summers, Camp Mystic has hosted girls.
It is a Christian camp, and it trains young girls in teamwork and camaraderie, in independence. And it produces some of the most incredible friendships--lifetime friendships--you have ever seen.
Many Texas summer camps, at the end of what is often a monthlong session, there is a closing ceremony that is typically 1 or 2 days. And I will tell you, it is an incredible thing to see Texas women coming back to these girls' camps, because you will regularly see a grandmother and a mother and a little girl, all of whom attended the same camp.
It is a tradition that has stitched together thousands of Texans all across our great State. I will tell you, for me, this is not abstract and theoretical. This crisis hits very, very close to home for me.
For a decade, my daughters have gone to camp in Kerr County, in Hunt, TX. They have gone to camp just a couple of miles away from Camp Mystic.
Just last week, my wife Heidi was in Hunt picking up my youngest daughter Catherine. She picked her up from camp. It was a wonderful time; it was joyful. This week, hundreds of little girls were dropped off at camp--this previous week--to start their next session, and in the early hours of July 4, the waters came rushing in, and it cost their lives.
I spent all of yesterday in the Hill Country. I met with first responders. I met with people who demonstrated extraordinary heroism. I met with people on the ground.
When this flood first started occurring and we were getting reports of just how bad it was, within hours I was on the phone with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. I was on the phone with Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. I was on the phone with Nim Kidd, the Texas Director of Emergency Management, and then I called President Trump.
And I told him: It is still early, but the reports we are getting of what is happening in Texas are utterly and completely devastating. This has the
I will tell you what President Trump told me, he said: Ted, whatever Texas needs the answer is yes.
And the Federal Government responded. In the hours after the flooding began, there were over a dozen helicopters in the air, coastguardsmen and National Guardsmen, Texas Department of Public Safety. They performed over 850 rescues.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet Coast Guardsman Scott Ruskan. Scott Ruskan saved 165 girls. He helicoptered into Camp Mystic, landed on an open field in a very dangerous landing terrain where many of the girls had gone because it was the highest ground in the camp.
Scott spent 3\1/2\ hours in the dark of night with torrential rain pouring down upon him with little girls surrounding him, many of them in their pajamas, many with one shoe. They had been pulled out of bed. Little girls crying, weeping, scared, terrified out of their minds. Some girls singing hymns together.
Scott stayed on the ground with them and helped 165 girls into helicopters. Each helicopter could carry roughly 15 girls, so one after the other, helicopters came in and landed, and he helped the girls get on the helicopter and helicopter out of there.
When I talked with Scott yesterday, he said he had just got off the phone with a mom and dad and a little girl who was one of those 165. And Scott, like many Coast Guard swimmers--if you have had the opportunity to meet Coast Guard swimmers, I describe them as a combination of a Navy SEAL and a California surfer. Coast Guard swimmers are some of the most incredible heroes we have.
Scott told the press this week, he said: I am just a dude. Which is very fitting for a Coast Guard swimmer. It is what many of them would say. But he told me those parents were crying and saying: You saved our daughter's life. And they said: You held our daughter's hand as she was scared and as you helped get her on the helicopter.
Yesterday, I went to Camp Mystic. I walked the grounds. It is the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life. I have never seen devastation like this.
The river sits--and yesterday it was quiet; it was beautiful. The Guadalupe River, I have floated on dozens of times. The Guadalupe River, girls, boys, they go to swim and canoe, to have fun. It was calm and peaceful yesterday, but the morning of July 4, it rose with a ferocity that the cabins at Mystic, just about every one, was 8 feet deep in water.
I could see the water where it rose. It shattered out the windows. The force of the water pulled furniture out of the cabins. I cannot imagine the terror those girls experienced. One cabin, a cabin with the youngest campers, it was called Bumble Inn, a sign on the outside with a picture of a bee.
Outside that cabin were 17 lone white Latin crosses. On each one of them was written the name of someone who lost their life. That entire cabin is either confirmed dead or missing. And the names of those little girls, all third graders, two of those names are girls who go to school with my daughter, third graders from Houston. One of them lived a block away from me in Houston.
The final cross on the right has the name Dick Eastland, who is the director of the camp. He graduated from the University of Texas 50 years ago. He has been running the camp for 50 years. And in the early hours of July 4, he was driving his Suburban trying to rescue girls, and he drowned, just a couple hundred yards away from where I was, in deep water. He had a lifetime of caring for young girls. It is not surprising to those who knew him that he gave his life trying to save the lives of those girls.
I will tell you, I stood in front of those crosses and just wept. While I was there, there was a mom and dad who came and knelt in front of one of those crosses. They leaned over and kissed the cross, and then the mom walked to the cabin and looked in the window. And the cabin, everything had been cleaned out by the force of the water. She just stood there and wept. You looked across the cabin, and there were multiple families, moms and dads going through belongings. Throughout the camp, you could see foot lockers with glitter names put on the foot lockers. You could see pillows. You could see flip-flops and Crocs, and you could see hundreds of stuffed animals. These were little girls.
I tried to leave the families alone and respect their grief. I don't know how many of them were moms or dads who were collecting the belongings of their daughter who had lost their life. There were some girls who were walking around going through the belongings. I assume they were either campers who had survived or siblings of those who had lost their lives.
For the past several days, I have spoken to multiple family members whose daughters had been missing, and the panic that any father, any mother feels when you don't know where your child is; that hole in their heart that will never be filled.
Texas is grieving from a wound unlike any I have ever seen before, but I also want to bring a word of hope. In the face of all of this despair, in the face of all of this suffering, we saw extraordinary acts of heroism. I have spent 13 years in the Senate representing Texas. Texas is a large State--31 million people. Many natural disasters have struck Texas, from hurricanes to tornados to wildfires, and consistently, over and over again when you go to a disaster, you see the same thing, which is Texans coming together just helping each other.
I talked to you about Scott Ruskan, the coastguardsman. I met yesterday the parents of another teenage boy. He was 14. He was at La Junta Camp, which is another boys camp there in Hunt. He was 14. He was awakened at about 3 in the morning. Water was rising. The camp was flooding. And his counselors told him come help rescue the little boys. So he went to the younger boys' cabin and helped them swim through the water.
These parents that I talked to yesterday, they were in tears. I asked them: Is your son OK? He was. Thankfully, the La Junta campers survived. And I said: Listen, he will always live with this trauma; you will always live with this trauma. But I said: To the extent it helps, he will also always know that at age 14, he helped save the life of 7- and 8- and 9-year-old little boys. And there will be boys and, one day, men who were living because that teenage boy risked his life for theirs.
I heard another story of a counselor who was in water up to his neck, holding with both hands mattresses on the water, on top of both mattresses was a camper. All three of them survived.
At the end of the day, I drove by a store called Hunt Store. The Hunt Store is an iconic store right there. It is a store we always stop by. It is a store Heidi and Catherine stopped by last week at the end of camp. The Hunt Store has been completely gutted. The floodwaters just cleaned it out.
The sign up top that reads ``Hunt Store'' had been changed. And now it reads: ``Hunt Strong.'' It is a beautiful statement.
In the parking lot of the Hunt Store, there were people gathered eating. There was a giant trailer with a barbecue smoker and grill. From several Texans--big dudes with beards. They looked like ZZ Top. They weren't from Hunt; they were from Rockport, TX. Rockport, TX, is down on the gulf. And back almost a decade ago, when Hurricane Harvey hit, Rockport was devastated. And those folks from Rockport said they remembered that when their houses were destroyed, people from Hunt, TX, came down and offered them food and prepared them food. And I have got to tell you, I remember when Hurricane Harvey happened. I was in Rockport multiple times, and I was at those food trucks. I didn't know the folks providing them were from Hunt.
But the folks from Rockport said: They helped us out when we were in need; we have got to help them out. That is who Texas is.
In the parking lot of the Hunt Store, there was a car that had written on it on the windshield: Isaiah 43:2. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you.
I will tell the Presiding Officer, there are many Texans right now who just need love; they need prayers. I would ask everyone to pray for the moms and dads who are grieving, who are missing their baby girls; for friends and family, hug them, love them. They need your support. They just need a shoulder to cry on. There is nothing you can say
I have to say, that is the responsibility of the church to care for those in need, to feed and clothe and help those who are suffering. The church should do that every day but especially in the face of a crisis.
Texas will come through this. Kerr County will come through this. On my street at home, almost every house has a tree in front of it with a ribbon to mourn the girls from Camp Mystic. There was a video on the internet that was posted of a schoolbus full of girls from Mystic after the flooding. And they are driving along, and one of the girls is filming the disaster, the devastation along the side of the river. And the girls are singing hymns. They are singing Christian hymns rejoicing.
I have to tell you, if you can listen to those hymns, you can see those girls singing those hymns and not be reduced to tears, I can't imagine that you can.
Our State is hurting, but we will come through it. For all of our colleagues who have reached out and said: We love you; we are standing with you, thank you. We need that support. We will come through it. And we will come through with a spirit of what is on the sign above the Hunt Store, ``Hunt Strong,'' ``Texas Strong.'' We will come through this together.
I yield the floor.
