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Remembering the 1987 Guadalupe River flash flood that killed 10 after raging through a Hill Country summer camp
Teens at the Pot O’ Gold Christian Camp near Comfort, Texas were swamped by a wall of water as they tried to escape.
COMFORT, Texas — July 17, 1987, along the Guadalupe River near Comfort, Texas, rescuers worked to airlift teenagers trapped in trees after a wall of water washed them away.
It happened when a caravan of buses attempted to escape from a church camp through a low water crossing after an overnight storm.
When their bus stalled, they formed a human chain to try and walk out, only to have a wall of water scatter them into the raging river.
Throughout the day, Texas DPS, U.S. Army helicopters and a news chopper from San Antonio television station and KVUE sister station KENS rescued dozens of teens and adults stranded in trees.
Many of the rescues were successful, but not all. Rescuers reported that a young girl, exhausted from trying to keep afloat in the river, was too weak to grasp a rope and fell back into the water. She did not survive.
Thirty-three people were plucked from the river and lived, but 10 teenagers died. Today, their names are inscribed in a memorial plaque near the river.
July 17, 1987: a story of survivors and the heroes who saved their lives, and the tragic story of those who lost their lives to a summer storm along the Guadalupe River.