Latest news with #Mystic
Herald Malaysia
6 days ago
- General
- Herald Malaysia
Faith communities hold memorial services for flood victims in Texas
The faith communities of the Texas Hill Country flood victims are rallying in support of the families with Masses, rosaries, and memorial services. Jul 18, 2025 Camp Mystic alumnae sing songs after a memorial service at the Church of St John the Divine in Houston on July 7, 2025. (CNA/Amira Abuzeid) By Amira AbuzeidThe faith communities of the Texas Hill Country flood victims are rallying in support of the families with Masses, rosaries, and memorial services. The Fourth of July flood disaster near the central Texas town of Kerrville, where the Guadalupe River rose 35 feet in the early morning hours, has claimed over 100 lives so far, including more than 30 young children, with many more still unaccounted for. Especially affected was Camp Mystic, the 100-year-old Christian girls' camp in Hunt, Texas. At least 27 campers there perished, with several more, including a counsellor, not yet recovered. Over the last few days, schools and churches in Houston, where many current and former Camp Mystic families reside, have held prayer services and Masses for the victims and their families. A filled-to-overflowing memorial service for Camp Mystic families took place on July 7 at the Church of St John the Divine, an Episcopal church with deep ties to the camp. Buried there is Anne Eastland Spears, former Camp Mystic chairman of the board and mother of camp director Dick Eastland, who lost his life while rescuing campers from the flood. The ministers spoke of Jesus' love for his children, especially when they suffer. St. John's rector, Rev. Leigh Spruill, encouraged those in mourning to 'have hope. Keep talking to God … He may seem absent now, but he hears everything and he is present.' Youth ministry director Rev. Sutton Lowe referred to the Gospel story of Jairus and his little girl, who died and whom Jesus raised from the dead. 'When we die, Jesus is there to touch us and say 'arise,' and there is new life beyond our imagining,' he said. Rev. Libby Garfield told mourners that 'there is a path forward that is lined with the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.' After the service, Camp Mystic alumnae of all ages gathered on the lawn north of the church, forming a large circle in the grass and singing camp songs, many of which were Christian hymns. Ashley Emshoff, an alumna who spoke to CNA after the memorial, said that the camp forges bonds between campers that are lifelong and are 'as strong as family.' Mystic alumna and St John parishioner Alafair Hotze told CNA the Eastland family, who run the camp, became like family to generations of campers. Emshoff and Hotze said that many Camp Mystic alumnae are so eager for their daughters to become part of the Mystic community that they write to the camp as soon as they find out they are pregnant with girls. The Eastlands respond with a Camp Mystic infant onesie for their newborn and a letter of congratulations (along with a place on the waitlist). Hotze said that Dick Eastland's death, while tragic, aligned perfectly with the man he was: 'He taught us to be selfless and love as Christ loves,' Hotze said. 'He died as he had lived,' Hotze said: 'Giving his life for those he loved.' --CNA
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
STRETCH ZONE CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING IN MYSTIC, CT
Premier Assisted Stretching Franchise Welcomes Newest Location Under Local Leadership MYSTIC, Conn., July 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Stretch Zone, the nation's premier assisted-stretching brand featuring a patented strapping system on proprietary tables, is proud to announce the opening of its newest location in Mystic, CT. This emphasizes Stretch Zone's continuous expansion on the heels of their 400th location milestone, and is operated by Chad and Jennifer Sklodosky, proud local owners and first-time franchisees. Chad, who has spent the last 30 years working in Operational Excellence, was drawn to Stretch Zone through a deeply personal connection—both he and his daughter have a Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder that affects their flexibility. "Discovering Stretch Zone felt like the missing link for our family and our future," Chad explains. "It wasn't just about a business opportunity—it was about building something that could change lives, starting with our own." Inspired by his Mother Emily, who started a business while raising ten children in addition to working from home, business ownership has long been a dream for Chad, and Stretch Zone presented the perfect opportunity to pursue it alongside his wife, Jennifer. Chad and Jennifer both share a passion for wellness, and they are already looking forward to opening two additional studios in the region. "Our favorite part of owning a Stretch Zone is being part of the community and offering something that truly helps people," Jennifer shares. "This isn't your average fitness service—it's transformative. We help people feel better, move better, and live better." Stretch Zone provides a unique approach to improving mobility, offering customized stretching plans designed to meet the specific needs and goals of each member. The opening of the Mystic location brings this cutting-edge wellness service to a community known for its active lifestyle and appreciation for holistic health. "Mystic is a gem of a town," Chad says. "With a culture rooted in well-being, activity, and connection, we're honored to serve its residents and visitors alike. Whether you're walking the historic seaport or enjoying the local trails, Stretch Zone can help you move with more ease and comfort." Stretch Zone is the only nationally accredited stretch franchise, thanks to its patented equipment and proprietary training methodology. The brand uses a science-backed approach to stretching, helping muscles relax and move more freely for better flexibility and mobility. With a welcoming environment and an open studio layout, Stretch Zone emphasizes a gradual, personalized approach that helps members safely increase their mobility and range of motion over time. With several membership options, there's a plan that suits every lifestyle and price point. Stretch Zone Mystic is located at 12 Coogan Boulevard, Suite 106, Mystic, CT, 06355. Operating hours are Sunday 10am-7pm, and Monday-Saturday 8am-8pm. The studio phone number is (860) 912-9934. The first visit is free for any new Stretch Zone member. For more information, visit About Stretch Zone Founded in 2004 by Jorden Gold, Stretch Zone was created with a deep passion for improving lives. The brand has redefined how we approach stretching, with a mission to enhance the quality of life in communities nationwide. By utilizing our proprietary tables and patented strapping system, Stretch Zone helps individuals achieve long-term results in flexibility and mobility. With nearly 400 locations across 41 states, the brand has experienced remarkable growth and continues to gain national recognition, ranking on the 2024 Inc. 5000 and Franchise Times' 2024 Top 400 List. Stretch Zone is seeking experienced franchisees who share a passion for health and wellness and are dedicated to making a lasting impact on their communities. To learn more, visit Media Contact:Stephanie Hall, Pitch Public Relationsstephanie@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Stretch Zone Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Miami Herald
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Miami Herald
Texas flood deaths exceed 100 with toll expected to rise
More than 100 people have been confirmed dead in floods that tore through central Texas over the weekend, marking a grim milestone as searchers used boats, dogs and drones to locate victims and authorities debated whether anything more could have been done to prevent the disaster. Confirmed fatalities reached 104, according to the Associated Press, and included 27 children and counselors who had been missing from the Mystic girls' summer camp that sat alongside the Guadalupe River in the heart of the Hill Country, a popular recreation area that's about a two-hour drive west of Austin. 'Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,' the camp said in a statement. 'We are praying for them constantly.' Ten children and one counselor remain missing. Authorities refused to say at a news conference Monday how many people were still unnacounted for, but warned that more heartache was sure to come even as they held out hope of finding survivors. 'We remain hopeful every foot, every mile, every bend of the river,' said Joe Herring Jr., mayor of Kerrville, one of the hardest hit areas. 'Our work continues.' The torrential rain that poured down Friday unleashed a flash flood that swept away cabins, campsites, bridges and roads, filling the area's rivers and streams with tons of debris and making it difficult to access some areas. While the heaviest destruction was concentrated in the area around Kerrville, flooding extended as far west as San Angelo - where one person died and local officials said 12,000 structures had been affected - and as far east as Austin, where rain on Saturday caused streams to overflow. At least 13 people died and more are missing in the capital region, KUT reported. The Hill Country is a largely rural area with limited mobile-phone reception. It had been packed over the Fourth of July holiday weekend with vacationers, many of them families who flock to the region's campgrounds and RV parks year after year to enjoy spring-fed rivers that provide respite from the summer heat in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The area sprawls across more than 20 counties in central Texas. Officials said 84 bodies had been recovered in Kerr County, including 28 children. More than 30 of the victims had yet to be identified. There could still be scattered showers across central Texas on Tuesday, but the bulk of the rain should be moving further north into Arkansas. Most flood warnings and watches across central Texas were set to expire by Monday evening, the National Weather Service said. Local, state and federal officials have faced criticism in the aftermath of the tragedy, including questions about why the flood-prone county lacked warning sirens, whether forecasts accurately conveyed the risk of a catastrophic deluge and whether local officials could have better notified people overnight to move to higher ground. Statewide, the flooding may have caused $18 billion to $22 billion in total damage and economic loss, according to a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather. Some politicians and local officials pushed back against efforts to assign blame for the losses of life, saying a rush to judgment risked politicizing a human tragedy. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, downplayed concerns that President Donald Trump's cuts to the National Weather Service played a role in the failure to evacuate people before the floods. He said an examination of what went wrong would be forthcoming, but that for now the best focus was on recovery efforts. Trump has approved a disaster declaration for the area and may visit Texas on Friday. 'Most normal Americans know that's ridiculous, and I think this is not a time for partisan attacks,' Cruz said. 'My hope is in time we will learn some lessons to implement.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed criticism of the weather service. 'Those comments are depraved and despicable,' she told reporters in Washington. Governor Greg Abbott, who will tour the area on Tuesday, said the state legislature will take up the issue of warning systems at a special session at the Capitol. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said some people may have been saved by a loud lightning strike at 1:30 a.m. on Friday morning that alerted them to the situation. He said that the state needed to find a way to pay for natural-disaster alarm systems for the area. 'Had we had sirens along this area,' Patrick told Fox News in an interview, 'it's possible that would've saved some of these lives.' 'The state will step up.' ---------- -With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan and Julie Fine. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
RTÉ News
08-07-2025
- Climate
- RTÉ News
Hopes fade in finding survivors following Texas floods
A search operation continues in Texas following recent heavy floods, as hopes dimmed of finding any survivors among the dozens still missing from the disaster that has claimed over 100 lives, many of them children. Three days after a torrential predawn downpour transformed the Guadalupe River into a deadly torrent, a Christian girls' summer camp devastated by the flash flood confirmed that 27 campers and counsellors were among those who died. Ten girls and a camp counsellor were still unaccounted for, officials said yesterday, as search-and-rescue personnel faced the potential of more heavy rains and thunderstorms while clawing through tonnes of muck-laden debris. The bulk of the death toll from the flood on Friday was concentrated in and around the riverfront town of Kerrville and the grounds of Camp Mystic, situated in a swath of Texas Hill Country known as "flash flood alley". By yesterday afternoon, the bodies of 84 flood victims - 56 adults and 28 children - were recovered in Kerr County, most of them in the county seat of Kerrville, according to the local sheriff. As of midday Sunday, state and local officials said 12 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across five neighbouring south-central Texas counties, and that 41 other people were still listed as missing outside Kerr County. The New York Times, one of numerous news media outlets publishing varying death tolls, reported that at least 104 people had been killed across the entire flood zone. Debate also intensified over questions about how state and local officials reacted to weather alerts forecasting the possibility of a flash flood and the lack of an early warning siren system that might have mitigated the disaster. Yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick vowed that the state would "step up" to pay for installing a flash-flood warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments "can't afford it". "There should have been sirens," Mr Patrick said in a Fox News interview. "Had we had sirens here along this area ... it's possible that we would have saved some lives." While authorities continued to hold out hope that some of the missing would turn up alive, the likelihood of finding more survivors diminished as time passed. "This will be a rough week," Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr said at a briefing yesterday morning. Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls' retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe was at the epicentre of the disaster. "Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy," the camp said in a statement yesterday. Richard "Dick" Eastland, 70, Mystic's co-owner and director, died trying to save children at his camp from the flood, local news media reported. He and his wife, Tweety Eastland, have owned the camp since 1974, according to its website. "If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for," Eastland's grandson, George Eastland, wrote on Instagram. Authorities lost one of their aviation assets yesterday when a privately operated drone collided in restricted airspace over the Kerr County flood zone with a search helicopter, forcing the chopper to make an emergency landing. No injuries were reported, but the aircraft was put out of commission, according to the Kerr County Sheriff's Office. National Weather Service forecasts yesterday predicted that up to 101mm more of rain could hit Texas Hill Country, with isolated areas possibly receiving as much as 250mm. Officials said the region remained especially vulnerable to renewed flooding due to the saturated condition of the soil and mounds of debris already strewn around the river channel. State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, ahead of the 4 July holiday, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of flash floods based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as was predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Mr Rice said the outcome was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours, leaving too little time to conduct a precautionary mass evacuation without the risk of placing more people in harm's way. Authorities in flood-prone areas like the Guadalupe River basin also must balance the odds of misjudging a catastrophe against not wanting to "cry wolf," he said. Still, a team of European scientists said climate change has helped fuel warmer, wetter weather patterns that make extreme rain and flood events more likely. "Events of this kind are no longer exceptional in a warming world," said Davide Faranda, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. "Climate change loads the dice toward more frequent and more intense floods." The Houston Chronicle and New York Times reported that Kerr County officials had considered installing a flood-warning system about eight years ago but dropped the effort as too costly after failing to secure a $1 million grant to fund the project.
Dubai Eye
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Dubai Eye
Hopes fade for Texas flood victims as death toll tops 95
Three days after a torrential predawn downpour transformed the Guadalupe River into a raging, killer torrent, a Christian girls' summer camp devastated by the flash flood has claimed at least 96 lives, many of them children. Ten girls and a camp counselor were still unaccounted for, officials said on Monday, as search-and-rescue personnel faced the potential of more heavy rains and thunderstorms while clawing through tons of muck-laden debris. The bulk of the death toll from Friday's flooding was concentrated in and around the riverfront Hill Country town of Kerrville, including the ill-fated grounds of Camp Mystic. By Monday afternoon, the bodies of 84 flood victims - 56 adults and 28 children - were recovered in Kerr County, most of them in the county seat of Kerrville, according to the local sheriff. As of midday Sunday, state and local officials said 12 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across five neighboring south-central Texas counties and that 41 other people were still listed as missing outside Kerr County. The New York Times, one of numerous news media outlets publishing varying death tolls on Monday, reported that at least 104 people had been killed across the entire flood zone. While authorities continued to hold out hope that some of the missing would turn up alive, the likelihood of finding more survivors diminished as time passed. Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls' retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe was at the epicenter of the disaster. "Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy," the camp said in a statement on Monday. Richard "Dick" Eastland, 70, Mystic's co-owner and director, died trying to save children at his camp from the flood, multiple media, including the Austin American-Statesman reported. He and his wife, Tweety Eastland, have owned the camp since 1974, according to its website. "If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for," Eastland's grandson, George Eastland, wrote on Instagram. National Weather Service forecasts on Monday predicted that up to 4 more inches of rain could douse Texas Hill Country, with isolated areas possibly receiving as much as 25 cm. Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said the potential for renewed flooding was particularly heightened by the saturated condition of the soil and mounds of debris already strewn around the river channel. A flood watch was posted until 7 PM. State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, ahead of the July Fourth holiday, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of flash floods based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as was predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice said the outcome, the result of an unpredictable combination of circumstances, was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday asked a government watchdog to investigate whether budget cuts imposed by the Trump administration contributed to any delays or inaccuracy in forecasting the floods.
