Callie McAlary admits that the nights are still hard, as the thoughts of the flood come rushing back. “I woke up to a big thunder,” she said. “I remember just looking outside my window and I saw a tree get hit by lightning and that was the moment I realized that this thunderstorm is pretty bad.”
The 16-year-old rising sophomore at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington remained composed as the flood waters rose at Camp Mystic, where 750 campers had gathered along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas. The flash flooding of July 4 claimed 129 confirmed victims including 18 adults and nine children at Camp Mystic. As of July 15, 101 remained missing throughout the Texas Hill Country.
“The water was rising, and I remember thinking, ‘When the lightning strikes it’s your only source of light and you can see,’ ” said Callie. “The light was reflecting off the water and the best way to describe the water is that it was like an ocean.”
Acting in an emergency came naturally for Callie, daughter of Tara Bradburn, who retired from civil service intelligence, and Jim McAlary, a retired Army counterintelligence officer, all parishioners of St. Bernadette Church in Springfield. It may have been instinct, instilled by family conversations about emergency preparedness, that prompted Callie to make a mature decision.
“I had a flashlight and I found my nametag and put it on,” said Callie. “I remember thinking that if the water continues to rise and something does happen, they can at least identify me.” After putting on her nametag, she went to work helping kids from the other cabins that had flooded. Callie’s was one of the few cabins that didn’t.
“Everything we trained Callie to do, she did. She knew how to do the right thing and how to protect herself and others,” said Jim, noting that there could have been far more casualties given the flood’s devastating impact.
After spending the day in their cabin, Callie and 178 other girls and counselors made their way to higher ground on a golf course. “They were on a small island,” said Tara. Blackhawk helicopter crews from the Texas National Guard airlifted some of the injured out on a rope, but the combination of large trees and high water kept the helicopters from landing.
“We made a giant prayer circle,” said Callie. “We were singing hymns and songs to distract us.” They were airdropped food until finally being rescued when the water had receded enough to allow the Blackhawk to land around 6 p.m. The U.S. Coast Guard and local and state authorities assisted with dozens of rescues. Callie did not know then that many others in the camp had been swept away in the early morning hours.
Tara didn’t know anything was wrong until 8:30 a.m. Friday, July 4. Kids aren’t allowed to have cellphones at the camp, and it wasn’t until 11 a.m. that she received word that Callie was safe. “Communication was very challenging on Friday,” said Tara, who was staying in College Station, Texas. “I finally got a text from one of the camp directors telling me that she was safe and that’s all I knew until she rushed into my arms at 8 o’clock that night.”
In a TikTok video, Callie can be seen running off the rescue helicopter in her blue Bishop O’Connell hoodie. “She came off that helicopter and she kept just saying over and over, ‘I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive,’ ” said Tara. “It was like she was trying to convince herself that she was.”
Soon after her rescue, Callie, learned the news about the deaths of eight-year-old twin sisters, Hannah and Rebecca Lawrence, younger sisters of her friend Harper.
“Those little girls were too young to die,” said Callie. “I can only process it through faith and I also realize that I need to live a life now that’s worthy of them. I know they entered the gates of heaven.”
It was Callie’s eighth year at Camp Mystic, an interdenominational Christian camp, unusual in that it also caters to Catholics. “I am from Texas and I wanted my child to have deep Texas roots like I did,” said Tara. “People go to Camp Mystic for generations within their family because it’s just so lovely.”
“I am someone who has wavered at times in my faith,” said Callie. “But Camp Mystic meets you wherever you are on your faith journey. Camp always brings me peace.”
Callie received her first Communion at St. Bernadette in the second grade. Her mom said she can’t stop thinking about her daughter’s first week of kindergarten at the parish school, when Callie ran to her after dismissal to show her something. “She said, ‘Mommy, Mommy, come with me, I want to show you the most beautiful thing,’ ” said Tara. “We went into the church, and she ran to the front and threw up her hands, pointing to the crucifix. And she said, ‘Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?’
