Overview

• Petty Officer Scott Ruskin served as the sole triage coordinator at Camp Mystic, directing the evacuation of 165 campers and staff on his first rescue mission July 4.
• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised Ruskin as an American hero, though he insists any trained Coast Guard swimmer would have acted the same.
• Coast Guard MH-65 helicopters joined National Guard, Texas Task Force 1 and DPS aircrews in at least 12 evacuation flights under hazardous conditions to reach stranded flood victims.
• Central Texas flash floods, driven by a stalled rainstorm that pushed the Guadalupe River over 26 feet above its banks, have claimed at least 81 lives and left more than 40 people missing.
• A federal disaster declaration for Kerr County now supports expanded aid, recovery efforts and continued search-and-rescue operations.