More than 150 people convened in front of 10-year-old Greta Toranzo’s elementary school in the Heights neighborhood of Houston on Saturday night — clutching electric candles as they bowed their heads to pray for her safe return home.
Toranzo is one of more than two dozen girls from a Kerr County summer camp who were still unaccounted for more than a day after catastrophic floodwaters inundated the region, leaving dozens dead.
Toranzo, a student at Sinclair Elementary School in Houston, was among more than 700 girls who were hosted at Camp Mystic for the summer, a beloved all-girls camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River, in the heart of an area known as Flash Flood Alley. By late Saturday, her family continued to implore people to report any information about her location.
During a candlelight vigil, Sinclair Elementary School administrators, teachers and families wore blue clothing, the girl’s favorite color. They sang “Amazing Grace,” and “How Great Thou Art” to the melodic strums of an acoustic guitar after a parent led moments of silence and prayers for the children that remained lost on Saturday.
A young girl with a tear-stained face rested her head on her mother’s stomach as the crowd broke the silence with song. Christyn Knoop, a Sinclair Elementary School parent, prayed aloud that Toranzo and others return home safely to their families. She read verses of the Bible about perseverance.
“Please God, protect these girls wherever they are, and strengthen those searches, giving them sharp eyes, courage and perseverance,” Knoop said. “Meet the parents in their racing hearts with your peace that surpasses all understanding.
“Please, God, bring these daughters home soon,” she said.
Flower bouquets, electric candles and teddy bears rest against the iron fence situated at the front of the school’s entrance. At the end of the vigil, students laid cards and flowers in the growing pile against the fence.
Families also prayed for the first responders who continued to work into Sunday to find people who remained unaccounted for in the area. Though rain slowed late Sunday, floodwaters continued to flow.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said crews started “boots-on-the-ground operations” early Saturday. More than 1,000 state and federal emergency personnel were on the ground aiding rescue operations. Gov. Greg Abbott declared Sunday a day of prayer in response to the July 4 floods.
During the Saturday night vigil in Houston, a man who identified himself as a camp director in the area said parents sent off several hundred campers on Saturday morning to a camp outside of Houston. He called the depart more emotional than usual.
“As the parents came, the campers were blissfully unaware of everything going on,” he said. “Those of us in that kind of work, we feel the weight of responsibility caring for children that parents entrust to us.”
Camp Mystic for nearly 100 years has offered 30-day programs aimed at improving girls’ spirituality and self-confidence, and generations of families have passed through the camp’s valleys. It has for generations hosted some of Texas' political elite — like Laura Bush, and the daughters of former Texas Gov. John Connolly and former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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