Please Pray for Central Texas

Please, if you pray, say a prayer for the people in the Kerrville, Texas area today as they try to deal with the horrors of the July 4th flash floods that struck their region. As of this writing, 51 human souls have been lost, including nine children who were among more than 700 young boys and girls at summer camps that dot the area west of Kerrville.

This is a part of Texas in which such flash flooding is common, due to the configuration of the hardscrabble landscape featuring webs of creeks, gullies and valleys which drain into the Guadalupe, Frio, and San Antonio Rivers. Various attempts at flood control over the decades haven’t done much to contain the problem, complicated in this century by rapid development in the area as the population of San Antonio sprawls westward.

It comes as no real surprise that soulless ghouls on the political left have seized on this horrifying tragedy to try to put blame on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and even President Trump, as if government can just wave a magic wand to tame nature and Texas’s often wild weather events. It is the depth of depravity to see something like this as a political event, but then, we must consider the source. These are, after all, the same people who blamed George W. Bush for Hurricane Katrina.

This news hit especially hard at our house since our two eldest granddaughters just got back from camps in East Texas, where they had wonderful experiences. The thought that so many parents and grandparents now will not be able to see the joy in their own family members’ eyes as they recount their time at camp is heartbreaking, a real “there but for the grace of God” moment for us and so many others.

Gov. Abbott on Saturday issued a disaster declaration covering 15 Central Texas counties, and the state has mobilized more than 1,000 first responders to participate in the search and rescue efforts. Volunteers from the Cajun Navy also arrived on the scene Saturday, beefing up the response effort. God bless those Cajuns. These floods are historic, the deadliest natural disaster in Texas history outside of the Great Galveston Storm of 1900 in which at least 8,000 people were lost.

Sadly, the death toll is destined to rise today, as 27 children remain missing despite Herculean search and recovery efforts made by first responders over the past 48 hours.

The timing of the flash flooding played a major role in the fact that so many were caught unaware. Kids and camp counselors who have been rescued from Camp Mystic said they were awakened around 4:00 a.m. to find their beds already floating as the rising waters swamped their camp buildings. One report said that the Guadalupe River water level rose 26 feet in a single hour as the floodwaters drained into it.

In the days to come, we will see climate alarmist narratives blaming the event on their quasi-religious theories, and others blaming it on cloud seeding and chemtrails. But the fact is that freak storms like this one have caused flash flooding in that part of Texas for millions of years and will continue to do so for millions more. This was a weather system, not a political event or scene from an Al Gore film.

Again, if you are so inclined, please offer a prayer today for these kids, their families, the souls who have been lost and for the first responders and public officials conducting efforts to save lives and help the stricken communities recover. If you go to church, maybe ask your pastor or priest to offer a few words, too. I think it helps, and I know many of you do, too.

That is all.