Badace52 said:Gmanoutdoors said:
Some information from my wife who is directly in contact with some Mystic staff and was once office staff:
She says that the map is relatively correct. Twins I, Twins II, and Bubble Inn are the highest elevation cabins along with Giggle Box and Wiggle Inn on the portion of the campground called the "Flats." They are next to the central office intentionally, and at the same elevations, such that those buildings are the last to need evacuation.
The elevation of the aforementioned cabins, the Office, and the Rec Hall are all 30-35 feet above the normal water level. There is no precedent, even in the '87 flood, for water to come up to the level of the Office/Bubble Inn/Twins. She found from a friend that the plan was likely to keep those campers in place while lower elevation cabins successfully evacuated to the Rec Hall (as evidenced by the photo of the older campers walking in the rain towards the Rec Hall). The waters then rose far beyond what was ever planned for and there was no more time to evacuate the three youngest cabins. Allegedly Dick drove his truck through the floodwaters to try and reach them once they realized it was cresting the hill they are situated on. Then the flood wave came. Even though they are limestone structures, someone told her an entire cabin, Twins or Bubble, may have been washed away with campers inside. For that to happen, the flood waters have to have been 35+ feet above normal. A truly unprecedented situation.
There is still no official word on Dick Eastland being alive. Everyone she is in contact with is tight-lipped. She hypothesizes they are waiting to find the missing girls before drawing attention to the loss of one of the camp directors.
It was Bug Hall that washed away. No one was in it at the time. Nut Hut roof collapse. It was also evacuated prior to roof collapse. Bubble Inn was in the process of being evacuated when the wall of water hit and everyone was washed away. The twins 1 and 2 cabins were left to fend for themselves from what I can gather and some made it out and some didn't. My daughter said some of the Twins kids were hanging in the trees when she came out of Wiggle Inn.
Wiggle Inn and Tumble Inn and possibly one other cabin (Hazel can't remember) rode out the surge in and on their cabins and all survived in those cabins.
None of this is gospel and most of it is coming from the traumatized mind of a 9 year old but this is the story I have so far.
My wife says this makes sense and would check out.
Wiggle, Giggle, and Tumble have vaulted ceilings with rafters. This allowed the girls to float/climb higher within the cabin. However, the Twins cabins and Bubble Inn have flat ceilings and attics. It's likely as the water rose, they couldn't get higher.
My wife does know Glenn and speaks highly of him but doesn't have his contact info.
Another heroic story to come out. Mystic had another woman on night shift (name unknown). She began to realize the situation around 2 am and sounded the alarm not only to Mystic but made calls to the surrounding camps. It's is likely she played a major role in securing the safety of the LaJunta campers and other nearby people. She sustained some injuries from what we understand but was able to make it safely to senior hill while helping with evacuations.
Gig 'em Aggies!
