We are hearing from a Dallas camper rescued from Camp Mystic.

Staying on higher ground, 13-year-old Stella Thompson was safe from the floodwaters, yet remains heartbroken for those deeply impacted.

“I think while it was going on I sort of felt a numbness,” Thompson said. “Saying it out loud is making me realize what actually happened and how bad it actually is.”

Just days after being dropped off to start a much-anticipated July term at Camp Mystic, Thompson is now processing the rains that ravaged the beloved camp and claimed the lives of fellow campers.

Her sixth summer at Mystic, Stella was on the Cypress Lake side when storms rattled her cabin awake early Friday morning.

At some point during the night, the cabin lost power, and she could see the headlights of camp leaders driving the grounds and checking on cabins in the rain.

At daybreak, she said they were told to stay inside and breakfast would be delivered.

She said the waters of Cypress Lake were muddy brown and higher, but they were unaware of what was happening on the other side of the camp.

On higher ground and out of view of the Guadalupe River side, it wasn’t until helicopters began buzzing overheard she realized something was truly wrong.

“I think it’s the uncertainty that really shook up our cabin,” Stella said.

At one point they were told to grab clothes from their trunks so counselors could give dry clothes to fellow campers, then later told to prepare for Guadalupe campers to come to their cabins, but plans kept changing.

Eventually, her cabin was told campers on the other side had been evacuated due to flooding and realized the large helicopters they were seeing were airlifting girls from the property, but they still had no idea the scope of the crisis.

“Eventually when we got that news we were all kind of hysterical and the whole cabin was praying a lot and terrified – but not for ourselves,” Thompson said.

Worried for those on the other side, it wasn’t until military trucks arrived to evacuate their side of camp late Friday evening did Stella and those at Cypress Lake got a glimpse at the devastation as they drove out of the property.

She described seeing huge trees uprooted, vehicles and girls’ camp trunks and clothes caught in trees and first responders searching in the water.

“It didn’t look like Camp Mystic anymore,” Stella said.

During this time her parents drove from Dallas to meet their daughter at a reunification site in Kerr County.

Their thoughts remain with those grieving and those families still waiting.

“We are just so happy that she is safe and we have her,” said mother Casey Thompson. “We are just grateful to be some of the fortunate ones. So there’s a sense of relief and an equal sense of just awareness of that’s not everybody’s story and that’s just two kinds of competing emotions.”

Touched by the outpouring of support for the Camp Mystic community, they hope people will continue to pray for those deeply affected.

“We hope that all the folks who are still missing loved ones are feeling that outpouring of love,” said Thompson.

Stella is comforted by a quote often echoed by camp owner and director Dick Eastland – one that is being shared among the Camp Mystic community online.

“A bell is not a bell until you ring it, a song is not a song until you sing it, the love in your heart was not put there to stay, love is not love until you give it away,” Stella said.

“It’s really showed me how much of an impact Camp Mystic has had on our lives and how amazing of a place it is and how horrible it is to see it like this because that’s not Camp Mystic.”

In response to questions about what people can do to help the area recover from the deadly flood, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, a 501(c)(3) charity serving the Texas Hill Country, has established a relief fund to support vetted local response, relief and recovery efforts.

Organizers said all donations go directly to organizations working on the front lines of the July 4 flooding emergency. All donations are tax-deductible, and you will receive a receipt for your gift.

To learn more or donate, visit the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country here.