How US Coast Guard hero saved 165 children from Texas flooding on first mission

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3 days ago

Scott Ruskan, a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer, is being hailed as an 'American Hero' after he saved as many as 165 children from catastrophic flooding at Camp Mystic in Texas. The 26-year-old New Jersey native, who was on his first rescue mission, was the only trained rescuer on the ground when tragedy struck read more
Tecas floods: Scott Ruskan was the only trained rescuer on the ground, working without cell service or radio communication. Iage courtesy: Rider University
When 26-year-old Scott Ruskan signed up as a rescue swimmer with the US Coast Guard, he knew he'd be saving lives. What he didn't know was that his very first mission would involve airlifting 165 children trapped by catastrophic flooding in Texas.
Over the July 4 weekend, torrential rains triggered severe flooding across parts of central Texas. Among the worst-affected areas was Camp Mystic, a girls' camp located in Kerr County, where rising waters from the Guadalupe River left children and staff stranded with no way out.
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That's when Ruskan stepped in. Assigned to manage triage at the site, he was part of the dramatic rescue operation and was seen in footage being hoisted by helicopter from the rooftop of a building surrounded by floodwaters, reports the New York Post. He is now being hailed as an 'American Hero'.
'This is what it's all about, right? Like, this is why we do the job,' Ruskan, a native of New Jersey and former KPMG accountant, said. 'This is why we take those risks all the time. This is why like Coast Guard men and women are risking their lives every day."
Chaos at Camp Mystic
According to Fox News, the rescue operation began when sudden floods cut off access to Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls located near the Guadalupe River, around 28 kilometres northwest of Kerrville, Texas.
The river rose by a staggering 26 feet in just 45 minutes on Friday morning, sending a wall of water through the campgrounds packed with visitors during the holiday weekend. Nearly 200 people, including 165 children, found themselves stranded at the site.
Emergency teams had a narrow window to act before the situation became even more dangerous. The Texas National Guard and Air National Guard deployed Black Hawk helicopters as part of the ongoing response.
The rescue operation began when sudden floods cut off access to Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls located near the Guadalupe River, around 28 kilometres northwest of Kerrville, Texas. File image/AP
What should have been a routine one-hour flight turned into a gruelling six-to-seven-hour mission, Ruskan told CNN. It took four separate attempts, and support from the Air National Guard, for their aircraft to reach the flood-hit zone.
From above, Ruskan said he could see the full impact of the flooding. 'I've never seen anything this tragic in my life,' he told CNN.
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This video of the Guadalupe was shot in Kerrville, Tx from the Center Bridge. Watch how fast these flood waters were traveling & washing everything in front of it out.
It goes from low & barley flowing to over the top of the bridge in around 35 minutes.
I sped the video up to… pic.twitter.com/NcQe4UAQBa — Clyp Keeper (@DGrayTexas45) July 6, 2025
'I saw a huge crowd of about 200 kids at a campsite,' Ruskan recalled during his appearance on Fox & Friends on July 5. 'We were like, 'Cool, that's where we're going to go and get as many people out as we can.''
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The dramatic rescue
Upon reaching the camp, the Coast Guard crew realised they were urgently needed at another, more dangerous site. The aircraft could carry more people if Ruskan stayed behind, so the team made a call; he would remain at Camp Mystic as the triage coordinator.
For the next three hours, Ruskan was the only trained rescuer on the ground, working without cell service or radio communication. Still, he focused solely on the kids, many of whom were barefoot, frightened, and still in their pyjamas after fleeing their bunks.
A cabin was destroyed by flooding at Camp Mystic. Reuters
'They're having probably the worst day of their life,' he said. 'They're missing friends. They're missing loved ones. They don't know where they are.'
While coordinating triage and keeping kids calm, he also directed Army Blackhawk 60s and Coast Guard MH-65 helicopters to small groups of stranded survivors.
Military personnel carry life jackets as they arrive to assist with a recovery effort at Camp Mystic. AP
Aircraft landed on makeshift helipads, the camp's archery and soccer fields, and Ruskan carefully guided groups of 10 to 15 children, along with at least one adult, to safety.
'My main job was triaging, and then my second job I kind of picked up was just trying to comfort these kids and the family members and counsellors,' he told CNN.
Despite the massive rescue efforts, 27 people, including campers and counsellors, died in the floods. At least 10 campers and one counsellor remain missing, as per Fox News.
'So we basically got the majority of the people out of Camp Mystic, which is awesome. And I feel like we did a lot of good that day, but obviously it's still super sad,' he told The New York Post. 'There's still a lot of people missing and unaccounted for, so the mission's not over yet. It's not over for us."
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'An American hero'
Scott Ruskan grew up in Oxford, New Jersey, and didn't start out in the world of rescue. In fact, he was once a KPMG accountant before deciding to make a big career switch.
In 2021, Ruskan joined the US Coast Guard. He completed basic training and then attended Aviation Survival Technician (AST) school in Petaluma, California, one of the most demanding military training programs in the country, according to a report by the New York Post.
After graduation, he was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he continued his advanced training and learned to operate with the MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. The recent Texas floods marked his very first real-life rescue mission.
The scale of the mission and Ruskan's role in it quickly caught national attention.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised him on social media, calling him an 'American hero.'
'United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and Petty Officer Scott Ruskan directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas. This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene,' Noem wrote.
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But Ruskan, now hailed as a hero, was quick to shift the spotlight.
'The real heroes, I think, were the kids on the ground,' he said. 'Those guys are heroic. They were dealing with some of the worst times of their lives, and they were staying strong, and that helped inspire me to get in there and help them out.'
With input from agencies