Jenna Bush Hager revealed that her mother used to work as a drama counsellor at Camp Mystic, the Texas summer camp that took the brunt of the devastating flooding over the weekend.
The presenter, 43, appeared visibly upset on Monday’s episode of the Today show where she praised the resilience of Texans amid the tragedy, which has so far claimed at least 82 lives.
At the time of writing, 41 people remain missing amid the devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio.
Ten girls and a counselor are still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river where 27 people died in the raging floods.
Speaking on the program, Jenna revealed how her mother, Laura Bush, worked at Camp Mystic.
‘My mom was a counselor there,’ she said. ‘But so many of my friends were raised at this camp. Texas camps are institutions, as you just heard where many family members, generations…
‘This camp was 100 years old. So, grandmothers, mothers, kids have all gone there.’
‘My mom was a drama counselor there. But many of my friends were there, had their kids there last week.
Jenna Bush Hager revealed that her mother Barbara Bush used to work as a drama counsellor at Camp Mystic
The mom-of-three praised Texans for their resilience and generosity amid the tragedy
‘And the stories that I heard over the last couple days were beautiful and heartbreaking and Texas has a type of resilience where they’re generous people and want to reach out and help.’
Her voice breaking, Jenna continued: ‘Texas camps are really special because you’re thinking about 90-degree weather, no air conditioning.’
Jenna went on to add that she and her husband, Henry Hager, sent their children to the camp in the past ‘because of the love that’s there.’
She shares daughters Mila (born 2013) and Poppy (born 2015), and son Hal (born 2019) with Henry.
Survivors have described the floods as a ‘pitch black wall of death’ and said they received no emergency warnings.
Officials have come under scrutiny as to why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner about the severe weather or told to evacuate.
The National Weather Service has extended a flash flood watch for the Texas Hill Country, where an additional one to three inches of rain is expected to fall today, until 7pm local time (6pm EST).
The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding. Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches of rain in the dark, early morning hours.
Jenna’s mother, Laura Bush, worked as a camp counsellor at Camp Mystic
Camp Mystic, an all girls Christian camp, was in the direct path of the flood, leaving multiple young girls dead or missing
A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, the site of where at least 20 girls went missing after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas
The National Weather Service said in an advisory that heavy rains of up to three inches and thunderstorms could cause more flooding across the Texas Hill country today.
Some area could see rain that exceeds five inches which will ‘quickly lead to flooding’, the National Weather Service has warned.
Rain has already begun to fall near Williamson County this morning and is expected to increase throughout the day.
The heaviest storms are currently near Killeen, a city in Bell County, where a flash flood warning is currently in effect.
Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding areas are among the areas predicted to be impacted by today’s storm, according to the latest NWS forecast.
Officials warn the risk of heavy rainfall remains across the region.
A Camp Mystic sign is seen near the entrance to the establishment along the banks of the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area
Meteorologist note it it is hard to pinpoint exactly where storms will break out, but warn the ‘rainfall rates will be very intense in the heaviest showers and storms’.
The slow-moving storms could cause more flash flooding and renewed river flooding in the coming hours, especially in the regions that were hardest hit by torrential rainfall over the weekend.
‘Any additional heavy rainfall over hardest hit areas of the past few days will lead to rapid runoff and flash flooding,’ the NWS added.
Floods are most likely to occur in areas that are currently under a flood watch – which is in effect until 7pm today for communities along the I-35 corridor, the Hill Country and the Edwards Plateau.
