Before the floods came, Camp Mystic’s sprawling 700-acre campground was dotted with green-roofed, cobblestone cabins and rows of cypress, live oak and pecan trees. After, bed sheets tangled in broken branches. Muddy clothes, an overturned canoe and other belongings from campers remained.

The thunder and lighting came to Camp Mystic first, but that was normal. The storm and the driving rain at the Texas camp woke up some of the campers, including Georgia and Eloise Jones, at about 1 a.m. on July 4. At first the pair thought nothing of it, they told ABC News. After all, it had been raining on and off for days.