Camp Mystic's Owner Warned Of Floods. He Died Trying To Save The Kids He Loved.

Dick Eastland was swept away by the deadly current as he and his son went from cabin to cabin to get campers to higher ground.

Dick Eastland, the 70-year-old owner and director of the Christian girls’ summer camp in Texas that was ravaged by deadly flash floods, had spent decades warning about a potential disaster. He died while trying to save as many campers as possible.

Eastland was a fixture at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, where he spent years teaching girls how to fish. His wife, Tweety, dished out cookies and hugs. But the idyllic summertime village faced unspeakable tragedy last weekend when the Guadalupe River suddenly rose 26 feet. The ensuing flash floods killed more than 100 people. At least 28 of those deaths were children. More remain missing.

It was hardly the first time the area had seen devastating floods. In 1987, 10 teens were killed when the river overflowed. As kids at a Christian academy attempted to flee, a “wall of water, estimated to be as much as half a mile wide, rushed upon the campers,” according to a government report obtained by The Associated Press.

Since then, Eastland had been sounding the alarm about the dangers that Camp Mystic would one day face. Following the 1987 flood, Eastland successfully pushed for an updated flood warning system, and served on the board of the local river authority, CNN reported.

Despite Eastland’s work to improve flood warnings, the river authority shut it down in 1999 over what it called an “unreliable” system.