His optimism was fading. He paused along a Texas 39 grape orchard as friends searched across the highway in a massive field spanning half a mile. Trees once blocked the roadside view. Now, the still-swollen river, a mess of uprooted trees and scattering of volunteer searchers were visible from the road.

Campers as young as 8-years-old were swept away by catastrophic flooding in central Texas when tropical rainfall sent the Guadalupe River surging onto Camp Mystic, where the young campers slept.