Silvana Garza Valdez and Maria Paula Zárate hailed as heroes for saving 20 Camp Mystic girls with the onset of flash floods as they evacuated amid life threatening conditions.
Two young Mexican women have hailed as heroes after risking their lives to protect and rescue young campers as flash floods on the 4th of July led to campsites along the Guadalupe River being deluged and fears for the worse.
Silvana Garza Valdez and Maria Paula Zárate, both 19, were working at a neighboring camp site when survivors from Camp Mystic were ushered to their location.
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‘We had to write our own names on our bodies in case we didn’t make it’
According to firsthand accounts and family confirmations, the counselors were responsible for saving at least 20 young girls—calming them, sheltering them, and keeping them safe until emergency crews could arrive.
In anticipation of the worst, the counselors revealed writing their names along with the young girls they were caring for on their bodies, so as rescuers could best ‘identity their bodies’ should they be swept away and not survive.
‘We wrote their names anywhere that was easy to see,’ the girls told Spanish outlet NMas.
‘At the time, we started to prepare our girls because we thought we were also going to be evacuated,’ Maria said.
‘We told them to pack a bag, to pack their favorite stuffed animal. We didn’t know if we were going to be evacuated or not. We were just waiting.’
Despite news of reported deaths starting to come in the counselors were asked to ‘put on a happy face’ to not scare the younger girls.
Silvana explained that the young girls began to catch on that something tragic had happened. When they learned they were going to be evacuated, chaos ensued.
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‘All of the girls started to go crazy, some were crying because they didn’t want to leave,’ Silvana said.
‘Others wanted their parents. I really don’t know how to explain it. It was something awful.’
The girls said that they didn’t have their cell phones during the event and weren’t initially told about the fatalities.
Silvana admitted that she didn’t understand the magnitude of the flooding until they evacuated.
Silvana added that ‘no one can understand’ the experience other than those who have lived it.
Despite the mass tragedy, Silvana found solace in the fact that the girls who were killed ‘had an amazing time’ at the ‘incredible’ camp before their untimely deaths.
While rescue efforts continue in Kerr County, Silvana and Maria are staying at a shelter house in Kirby, which is about two hours from Camp Mystic.
As of Sunday night the death toll had climbed to 82 with 68 dying at the flooding’s epicenter in Kerr County, along with 12 other being killed in other counties, officials said.
One counselor and 11 campers remained unaccounted for, with over 800 people rescued.
