The Texas flooding tragedy left Americans nationwide mourning, but it especially devastated one Texas native with a personal connection to Camp Mystic.
Jenna Bush Hager, whose mother was former first lady Laura Bush, was heartbroken when explaining that her mom was a camp counselor at the summer camp where 10 girls are still missing.
“My mom was a counselor there, but also so many of my friends were raised at this camp,” Hager, 43, said Monday on the Today show. “Texas camps are institutions, as you just heard, where were many family members—generations—this camp was 100 years old, so grandmothers, mothers, kids have all gone there.”
Amid catastrophic flash floods, 27 campers and counselors have died. Hager, whose dad is former President George W. Bush, grew emotional when she added “many of my friends had their kids there last week.”
Her mother was a drama counselor at the Christian children’s camp, and the Bush family has deep ties to the area and Texas as a whole. Hager is a Texas native, and her father was formerly the state’s governor.
“You’re thinking about 90 degree weather, no air conditioning,” she said. “My kids are at camp in Texas, and my husband said, ‘Why are we sending our kids to Texas, to camp? It’s hot!’ And it’s because of the love that’s there.”
In fact, Hager and her husband Henry recently dropped off her kids at another Texas camp.
“Putting them on the bus, saying goodbye to them—and I know so many parents whose kids are at camp or going to camp feel that way,” she said later during Today with Jenna & Friends. “We send our kids into the world with the faith that they can happy lives, joyful lives, and as adults we know pain we hope our kids never face it.”
Hager has three kids: Mila, 12, Poppy, 9, and Hal, 5. She called Texas camps “really special.”
“Texas has a type of resilience,” she said. “They’re generous people, where people want to reach out and help.”
Disaster struck Friday when floods swept across the central part of the state, forcing the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet in 45 minutes. Dozens have died, including those from Camp Mystic.
When asked why the summer camps in the area were not evacuated Friday, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official, said, “I can’t answer that. I don’t know.”
“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,” the camp said on its website. “We are praying for them constantly.”
The camp told the Today show it had been working with local and state authorities, which were “tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls.”
One local hero, Richard “Dick” Eastland, died while trying to save the campers from the flood. Hager called his family “Texas royalty.”
Eastland and his wife Tweety, had a 50-year tie to the camp and were the third generation to manage it.
“So many of my friends said he was their summer father,” she said. “He looked out for campers. He raised girls to be brave and loving. His legacy will live on.”
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