Like countless others, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was horrified to learn of this month’s flash flooding in Texas that killed at least 118 individuals, including 27 campers and counsellors in the central part of the state.

Then the Super Bowl champion realized that those campers and counsellors were at the same non-denominational Christian girls’ summer camp his sister once attended: Camp Mystic.

‘Awful, awful thing to see,’ the 37-year-old Stafford told his wife, Kelly, on her podcast. ‘I can’t imagine in the middle of the night waking up to something like that, whether you were at the camp or around. It’s a tough thing to look at. Tough to understand why those things happen.

‘Definitely heart wrenching. A tough thing to read about and see about. Just thinking about the people in that region of the country. It hits pretty close to home for me.’

Among the fatalities were two eight-year-old twins, Hanna and Rebecca.

His 36-year-old wife, Kelly, couldn’t help but think of the couple’s four children, including their own eight-year-old twins, Sawyer and Chandler.

A Camp Mystic sign is seen near the entrance along the banks of the Guadalupe River

Matthew and Kelly Stafford are pictured with their young children, including their two twins

‘We’re sending our girls to sleepaway camp for the first time this year,’ Kelly said. ‘They’re so excited. I imagine those girls were so excited to get to go to this camp. For it to end like that is just so hard.’

‘I can’t put my feet in these parents’ shoes right now.’

Although he was born in Tampa, Stafford grew up in Dallas alongside his sister, Paige. It’s unclear when she attended Camp Mystic, which now faces safety questions following this month’s tragedy.

Texas inspectors signed off on Camp Mystic’s emergency planning just two days before the catastrophic flooding.

The Department of State Health Services released records Tuesday showing the camp complied with a host of state regulations regarding ‘procedures to be implemented in case of a disaster.’ Among them: instructing campers what to do if they need to evacuate and ᴀssigning specific duties to each staff member and counselor.

Five years of inspection reports released to The ᴀssociated Press do not offer any details of those plans at Mystic, raising new questions about the camp’s preparedness ahead of the torrential July 4 rainfall in flood-prone Texas Hill Country.

Some of the cabins were believed to have been built in a river floodway in Hunt, Texas

Teams continue rescue and recovery operations around the Guadalupe River

The National Weather Service had issued a flood watch for the area July 3 at 1:18 p.m. That danger prompted at least one of the roughly 18 camps along the Guadalupe River to move dozens of campers to higher ground.

The uncertainty about what happened at Mystic comes as local officials have repeatedly dodged questions about who was monitoring the weather and what measures were taken ahead of the flooding.

Established in 1926, Camp Mystic did not evacuate and was especially hit hard when the river rose from 14 feet (4.2 meters) to 29.5 feet (9 meters) within 60 minutes in the early morning hours. Flooding on that stretch of the Guadalupe starts at about 10 feet (3 meters).

A wall of water overwhelmed people in cabins, tents and trailers along the river’s edge. Some survivors were found clinging to trees.

At least 27 campers and counselors died during the floods, and officials said Tuesday that five campers and one counselor have still not been found. Among the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ was Richard ‘Dick’ Eastland, the camp’s beloved director described by campers as a father figure.

Furnitures lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after ᴅᴇᴀᴅly flooding in Kerr County

Charlotte Lauten, 19, spent nine summers at Camp Mystic, mostly recently in 2023. She said she didn’t recall ever receiving instructions as a camper on what do in the case of a weather emergency.

‘I do know that the counselors go through orientation training for a week before camp starts,’ she said. ‘They do brief them on all those types of things.’

One thing that likely hindered the girls’ ability to escape was how dark it would have been, Lauten said. Campers don’t have access to their phones while at camp, she said, adding they wouldn’t have cell service anyway because of the remote location.

‘This is the middle of nowhere and they didn’t have power,’ she said. ‘It would have been pitch black, like could not see 5 feet in front of you type of darkness. I’ve never seen stars like there because there’s just no light.’

The state inspected Camp Mystic on July 2, the same day the Texas Division of Emergency Management activated emergency response resources ahead of the anticipated flooding.

Beds, furniture, and personal belongings are scattered outside flooded cabins

The inspection found no deficiencies or violations at the camp in a long list of health and safety criteria. The camp had 557 campers and more than 100 staffers at the time between its Guadalupe and Cypress Lake locations.

The disaster plans are required to be posted in all camp buildings but aren’t filed with the state, said Lara Anton, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

‘We do not have them,’ Anton said in an email. ‘You’d have to get it from the camp.’

Camp Mystic did not respond to requests for comment on its emergency plan. In a statement on its website, the camp said it has been ‘in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls.’

Many vehicles have been seen washed up in and around Hunt, Texas this week 

Camps are responsible for developing their own emergency plan. Inspectors evaluate the plans to ensure they meet several state requirements, including procedures for evacuation.

‘The inspector checked that they had plans posted for those elements in every building,’ Anton said, ‘and that they had trained staff and volunteers on what to do.’

Camp Mystic is licensed by the state and a member of the Camping ᴀssociation for Mutual Progress, which says its goal is to ‘raise health and safety standards’ for summer camps. Leaders of that ᴀssociation didn’t return messages.

The American Camp ᴀssociation said Tuesday that Camp Mystic is not accredited with that organization, whose standards focus on safety and risk management. Spokesperson Lauren McMillin declined to say whether the camp previously had been accredited with the ᴀssociation, which describes itself as ‘the only nationwide accrediting organization for all year-round and summer camps.’