LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – It has been two weeks since the devastating flooding in central Texas. The death toll has risen to more than 130, with around 100 people still missing.
The images from that day, and in the weeks that have followed, have stayed with a 14-year-old Central Arkansas girl, who had to be evacuated from a camp along the Guadalupe River, along with hundreds of others. In the chaos of that day, she never got to say goodbye to her fellow campers. However, this Friday, they were able to reunite in Little Rock for a long-awaited hug.
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Friday afternoon marked a reunion that a group of girls never expected to have, but are thankful they get to. All five, including 14-year-old Charlie Brown, who lives in Little Rock, were spending their summer at Camp Waldemar in Hunt, Texas, when the flash flooding hit over the 4th of July weekend, six days into their month-long stay.“We honestly knew nothing that happened, we just knew it was a really bad storm,” Charlie Brown from Little Rock said.
“I was asking one of the counselors, ‘Do you think it’s going to rain tonight?’ and they were like, ‘We are expecting a little bit of light rain,’ and I thought nothing of it,” Caroline Evans from Boston, Massachusetts said.Their camp is located a few miles down the river from Camp Mystic, which was devastated by the floods, and sits on a hill. It wasn’t until the next morning the girls realized something wasn’t right.“Usually the bugle wakes us up, but the bugle didn’t go off that morning,” Maisey McInnis from Shreveport, Louisiana, said.
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While their camp experienced some damage, all the campers were able to be evacuated safely on buses.“I think when I saw parents hugging their children, it broke me because the parents were so glad to see their child safe, so I knew more had happened than I thought,” Brown said.In the chaos, the girls, who live in all different parts of the country, were separated but safe. They returned home, not fully comprehending what had happened or how lucky they all were.“I didn’t emotionally process it until two days later, and I mean, I still can barely emotionally process it. It’s just crazy to think I lived through that,” Evans said.Charlie’s mom, Ann, decided the best thing to do was to reunite the girls and allow them to process what they went through together.“Caroline flew in from Boston yesterday. Maisey drove in from Louisiana. Weve got two more coming in from Texas,” Ann Brown of Little Rock said. “Just to get them together, have fun and maybe heal and process because they all just left and they didn’t get to talk about what had happened.”The girls were able to reunite Friday at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock and hug each other for the first time since they were separated two weeks ago.
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“It really makes me think about how blessed I am and how blessed all of us were,” Evans said.They said everything they went through has brought them closer than ever before.“Now as I look back, I appreciate camp more now that I’ve seen what other people have gone through,” McInnis said. At least 27 people, including campers and counselors, died at Camp Mystic during the recent flooding. The girls said while the events of that weekend will stay with them forever, it won’t stop them from returning to camp next summer…