It started as a typical summer camp ending.
The kids from the Pot’s O’ Gold Ranch, a church camp based out of Seagoville, Texas, were heading home. They were tired. They were probably smelling like lake water and campfire smoke. But the Guadalupe River had other plans that morning on July 17, 1987. Within hours, a wall of water would turn a routine bus ride into one of the most harrowing survival stories in Texas history.
When people search for the Texas flood camp missing girls, they are usually looking for the details of the ten lives lost that day. They want to know how a bus full of teenagers ended up submerged in a river that had risen 30 feet in a matter of hours. Honestly, it's a story of split-second decisions and a flash flood so violent it literally tore a bus apart.
The Morning the Guadalupe Rose
The Hill Country is beautiful, but it's also "Flash Flood Alley."
The campers, mostly teenagers, were loaded onto a bus and a van. They were trying to beat the weather. The Guadalupe River was rising fast near Comfort, Texas, thanks to torrential rains upstream. By the time they reached the low-water crossing on Brookedge Road, the water wasn't just high; it was a surge.
The bus stalled.
Think about that for a second. You’re seventeen. You’re on a bus with your best friends. Suddenly, the engine dies. You look out the window, and instead of a road, there is a brown, churning sea. The driver, Richard Koons, tried to get everyone out. He knew the bus was a death trap. He had the kids form a human chain.
It didn't work.
The force of the Guadalupe was too much. The chain broke. The bus was swept away, and 43 people were suddenly fighting for their lives in a river filled with debris, cypress knees, and terrifyingly strong currents.
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The Reality of the Search for the Missing
The news reports from 1987 were frantic.
Rescue teams used helicopters—specifically from the 507th Medical Company at Fort Sam Houston—to pluck kids from the tops of cypress trees. Some of those teenagers hung onto branches for hours while the water roared beneath them. If you’ve ever seen the footage, it looks like something out of a movie, but the screams were real.
The Victims
While many were saved, ten didn't make it. The search for the Texas flood camp missing girls and boys focused on the area downstream from the Brookedge crossing. The victims were:
- Melanie Finley
- Cindy Lamb
- Laci Goolsby
- Stacey Smith
- Karen Fisher
- Tonya Smith
- John Bankston Jr. (who was later credited with helping save others before he was lost)
- And others who were caught in the wreckage.
One girl, Haley Wright, became a focal point of the tragedy’s aftermath. The sheer scale of the loss for a single church community in Seagoville was devastating. They weren't just names on a news ticker; they were a youth group that had spent the week singing and playing together.
Why the 1987 Comfort Flood Still Matters Today
People still talk about this because it changed how we handle water safety in Texas.
Before this, the "Turn Around, Don't Drown" mentality wasn't a catchphrase. It was a lesson learned in blood. The Comfort flood proved that a heavy bus is no match for moving water. Buoyancy is a physical fact. A few feet of water can lift a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds.
There’s also the legal and emotional fallout.
Lawsuits followed, as they usually do. Families wanted answers. Why was the bus on the road? Could the camp have waited another two hours? These are the questions that haunt survivors. When you talk to people who were there, they don't talk about "logistics." They talk about the sound of the water. It sounded like a freight train.
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Misconceptions About the Rescue
Some people think everyone was swept away inside the bus. That's not true. Most of the kids were actually out of the bus when the "wall" of water hit. They were trying to reach the shore.
Another misconception is that the rescue was immediate.
The weather was so bad that helicopters were grounded for parts of the morning. Rescuers were literally flying in conditions that should have kept them on the ground. They were hovering over the river, dropping lines to kids who were so exhausted they could barely hold on. One of the most famous pieces of footage shows a girl losing her grip and falling back into the river just as she was about to be saved. It’s gut-wrenching.
The Long-Term Impact on Seagoville
If you visit Seagoville today, the scars are still there.
The First Baptist Church of Seagoville has a memorial. It’s a quiet place. But the impact went beyond just one town. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) eventually ramped up its warnings at low-water crossings across the state because of what happened to those Texas flood camp missing girls.
We see these floods every few years now—Wimberley in 2015, Llano in 2018. Every time the Guadalupe or the Blanco rivers rise, the survivors of the 1987 Comfort flood feel that familiar tightness in their chests.
Critical Safety Takeaways from the Comfort Tragedy
You can't outrun a flash flood in the Hill Country.
The geography of the area—limestone bedrock and steep hills—means the water has nowhere to go but into the riverbeds. It rises vertically, not just horizontally.
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- Low-water crossings are deceptive. Even if the water looks shallow, the road underneath might be washed out. You’re driving onto a ledge that might not exist.
- Engine stalling is the beginning of the end. Once your tailpipe is submerged or the intake sucks in water, you are a passenger in a floating box.
- Trees are not always safe harbors. In the Comfort flood, some kids were rescued from trees, but others saw the very trees they were clinging to get uprooted by the current.
Actionable Steps for Flood Safety in Texas
If you are traveling through the Texas Hill Country or attending a summer camp in the region, modern safety protocols are your best defense.
Monitor the USGS Water Gauges
The U.S. Geological Survey maintains real-time sensors on the Guadalupe River. You can check these on your phone. If the "discharge" or "stage" levels are spiking upstream, stay away from the riverbeds downstream.
Understand "Cfs" (Cubic Feet per Second)
To put the Comfort flood in perspective, the river went from a normal flow to tens of thousands of cfs in a heartbeat. Anything over 1,000 cfs is generally considered dangerous for recreational use. On the day of the disaster, it was astronomical.
Never Ignore "Road Closed" Signs
In Texas, it is actually a primary offense to bypass a barricade at a flooded crossing. These aren't suggestions. They are there because someone, likely in 1987 or a similar year, lost their life at that exact spot.
Establish a Communication Plan
Many of the camps in the Hill Country are in "dead zones" for cell service. If you are a parent, ensure the camp has a hardline emergency plan and an inland evacuation route that doesn't rely on crossing the river.
The story of the Texas flood camp missing girls is a permanent part of the state's history. It serves as a grim reminder that nature doesn't care about your plans, your bus, or your youth group's trip home. It only cares about gravity and the path of least resistance.
Keep your eyes on the clouds and your wheels on high ground.