{"id":2495,"date":"2025-07-11T21:08:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2495\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T21:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:08:03","slug":"pilot-recalls-conducting-texas-flood-rescues-at-camp-mystic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2495\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot Recalls Conducting Texas Flood Rescues at Camp Mystic"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Lieutenant Blair Oguiofor responded to a call for an emergency deployment before sunrise on the Fourth of July, she did not anticipate the devastation ahead of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oguiofor, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard and Texas native, was one of more than 1,700 emergency responders who headed to central Texas in response to heavy precipitation that caused fast-moving flood waters to rise up to 30-feet high, sweeping away cars and homes and taking the lives of at least 120 people. More than 150 individuals still remain missing statewide as search and rescue efforts continue. The natural disaster has caused an estimated $18 to $22 billion in damages, according to AccuWeather<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith how these work, a lot of times we don’t have all the information when we first depart from our home base,\u201d Oguiofor said. \u201cWe all thought, \u2018Okay, they\u2019re probably just Fourth of July campers, along the river, maybe 10-20 people [need assistance].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mission proved to be much more arduous than expected for her and her small crew of four, all of whom are first tour aviators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team\u2014which typically deals with maritime assistance, she says\u2014traveled inland to the all-girls Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic, which was nestled along the banks of the flooded Guadalupe River in an area known as \u201cflash flood alley.\u201d Camp Mystic was devastated by the flooding:\u00a0 At least 27 campers and counselors died<\/a>, including the camp\u2019s director Richard \u201cDick\u201d Eastland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oguiofor and her team conducted four flights, picking up groups of three to four girls from Camp Mystic and transporting them to a nearby reunification center after they were triaged by Petty Officer Scott Ruskan, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer who helped some 165 people<\/a> to safety while also attempting to quell the high emotions of the girls at the campsite. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey would come up as we’re trying to get them into the aircraft \u2026 Like, \u2018Hey, have you seen my sister? She was over there at this other camp,\u2019 or just trying to give descriptions,\u201d Oguiofor recalls. \u201cIt’s one thing to go through that, but then also having to be a sibling, either older or younger, and now also questioning [my sibling\u2019s safety]. These are kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oguifor attempted to put her emotions aside to complete her mission, though she admits she often worked with tears in her eyes throughout the nearly 12-hour day. \u201cI [am] continually praying for them, continually praying for those families. My team and I were grateful for the part that we were able to play,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Oguiofor\u2019s biggest hurdle as a helicopter co-pilot was actually getting to the camp, which lies\u00a0 near Kerrville, Texas, from her home base of Corpus Christi. The torrential downpour remained heavy when she embarked on the flight, forcing her and her crew to move across Texas through the towns of San Antonio, Boerne Stage, and Hondo as they flew west around the storm cell and constantly reassessed how they would make it on camp grounds. \u201cIt took us about four attempts before we’re actually able to get in,\u201d she recounts. Eventually, they landed at a soccer field on the site.<\/p>\n

The team relied on communication shared with them by the Army National Guard, who have also assisted with rescue efforts, as they took on the tasks assigned to them. \u201cWe’re still being introduced to different cases and different missions as we go,\u201d says Oguiofor, who had only participated in a small number of missions previously. \u201cNeither of us had anything like this case [before].\u201d<\/p>\n

Even amid the devastation, her work reminded her of people\u2019s ability to come together as a community to assist in times of need. \u201cI’m so impressed with everyone,\u201d she says. \u201cThe bravery from people out there, that also warmed my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction, July 11<\/p>\n

The original version of this story misstated the number of flights Oguiofor and her team conducted. They conducted four flights, not dozens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Lieutenant Blair Oguiofor responded to a call for an emergency deployment before sunrise on the Fourth of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79,1022],"class_list":["post-2495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}