Girl ‘living her best life’ and ‘heart and soul’ of camp

An eight-year-old girl and the director of an all-girls’ summer camp are among the victims of flash floods in Texas that have claimed at least 43 lives, including 15 children.

Officials say most of the victims have been identified, though the identities of six adults and a child remain unknown. Authorities have not yet released any names publicly.

Here’s what we know so far about the victims.

Eight-year-old Renee Smajstrla was at Camp Mystic when flooding swept through the summer camp for girls, her uncle said in a Facebook post.

“Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly,” wrote Shawn Salta, of Maryland.

“We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life, as evidenced by this picture from yesterday,” he wrote. “She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic.”

Camp Mystic, where 27 children are missing, is a nearly century-old Christian summer camp for girls on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas.

Operated by generations of the same family since the 1930s, the camp’s website bills itself as a place for girls to grow “spiritually” in a “wholesome” Christian atmosphere “to develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem”.

Heart O’ the Hills is another all-girls’ camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, and it was right in the path of Friday’s flood.

Jane Ragsdale, described as the “heart and soul” of Heart O’Hills, “did not make it”, a post shared on the camp’s official website said on Saturday.

Ragsdale, who started off as a camper then a counsellor, became the director and co-owner of the camp in 1976.

“We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful,” the camp website post said.

Heart O’ the Hills wasn’t in session and “most of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground”, the statement said.

“Access to the site is difficult, and authorities are primarily focused on locating the missing and preventing further loss of life and property”.

Sarah Marsh, a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Texas, would have entered third grade in August.

She, too, was attending Camp Mystic when the floods struck, and reported as missing along with about two dozen other campers.

Her grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, took to Facebook on Friday asking for prayers. Just hours later she shared online that her granddaughter was among the girls killed.

“We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!” Ms Ford Marsh wrote on Facebook.

In a post on Facebook, Alabama Senator Katie Britt said she’s “heartbroken over the loss of Sarah Marsh, and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and prayers during this unimaginable time”.

Nine-year-old Lila Bonner, a Dallas native was found dead after flooding near Camp Mystic, according to NBC News.

“In the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time,” her family said in a statement to the news outlet.

“We ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly.”