American sleep-away camps began as a way to protect children from the threats of the world. Parents continue to see them that way.

Camp Mystic has deep roots with Texas politicians, including former first lady Laura Bush, who worked as a counselor there, and former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who sent his daughters there.

Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight's little sister, Paisley, was at a camp on a smaller arm of the Guadalupe River. The 14-year-old was "just miles" away from Camp Mystic in Central Texas, which has been devastated by the deadly floodwaters spurred by extreme rainfall on July 4.

Over the last decade, an array of local and state agencies have missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert the type of disaster that swept away dozens of youth campers and others in Kerr County,

Malaya Hammond, 17, was traveling to a Christian summer camp with her family at 5 a.m. Saturday when they drove off a bridge covered by flooding — sweeping their van into Marble Falls, according to a Facebook post from a family friend, Mikki Willis.

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO and MARIAM FAM Texas’ catastrophic flooding hit faith-based summer camps especially hard, and the heartbreak is sweeping across the country where similar camps

One local summer camp in the path of the disastrous flooding in central Texas was able to avoid any loss of life by closely monitoring weather reports.

Follow for live updates in the Texas flooding as more than 173 are missing as rescuers continue a desperate search