Almost a week has passed since fast-moving floodwaters tore through the Texas Hill Country during the early morning hours of July 4, submerging roads, sweeping away structures, and turning the usually peaceful Guadalupe River into a deadly force.

The survival of people in local camps and low-lying areas depended not on official evacuations but on whether they were paying attention, on their own, to weather alerts in the middle of the night.

Generations of the same family have operated the summer camp since 1939. It counts family members of former president and governors as alumnae.