THE Episcopal diocese of West Texas has set up an emergency fund to support flood-relief efforts in Kerr County, where 27 children and counsellors at a long-established Christian summer camp on the banks of the Guadeloupe River are confirmed to have died in flash floods on Sunday. Around 750 girls were evacuated from Camp Mystic as the floods hit with a force that saw the river rise 22 feet in 45 minutes. “As a parent and long-time camp counsellor, I grieve especially with the parents and camp communities now facing unfathomable loss,” the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Revd Sean Rowe, told the Episcopal News Service (ENS). The executive director of Episcopal Camps and Conference Centres, Jess Elfring-Roberts, told ENS: “We are profoundly aware that in our community, camp is family. The death toll on Wednesday was estimated to have risen to more than 110, with 173 still missing.
