Smoking Diary #27: Texas floods

by Sarah Hepola

L-R: Lila Bonner, Eloise Peck, Anna Margaret Bellows and Janie Hunt. The girls were among the 27 campers who went missing after floods overtook part of Camp Mystic near Hunt, Texas, on July 4, 2025. (From NBCDFW.)

I’m on vacation in South Padre, an island off the coast of Texas, where I learned about the flooding in central Texas. It was the afternoon of July 4, and I checked my phone to see all these posts that read, “Pray for Camp Mystic.” Why? I soon found out. Floods in the Texas Hill Country came fast and left a body count still growing. One locus of tragedy is Camp Mystic, a beloved sleep-away camp for girls where a lot of kids I grew up with spent their summers.

Our audio ramble today takes us through camp memories, growing up around affluence when you are not affluent, Mother Nature’s brutality, the logic of flash floods, a personal memory of danger in the water during college, and (inevitably) missing the cat.

Happy Fourth of July, wherever you are. America is an idea that anyone can share (from afar, at least, it’s complicated).

REMINDER: Nancy and Sarah host a Zoom hang TODAY (Sun, July 5) at 8pm ET/5pm PT for paid subscribers. Zoom link heads your way this afternoon.

View from the balcony in South Padre. 4:30am, July 6.