Security Guard Was Trapped in Flooding Cabin with ‘Terrified’ Young Campers, Then He Started Thinking About His Own Kids

A Texas security guard who found himself trapped inside a cabin as deadly floodwaters swept through a summer camp is sharing how he survived the terrifying night.

Glenn Juenke, who worked at Camp Mystic, a girls-only Christian summer camp where 27 campers and counselors lost their lives in the July 4 floods, told The New York Times that he missed the first flash flood warning from the National Weather Service because he didn’t have cell service.

The reality of the storm became clear quickly.

After calling his wife to say he’d be staying overnight, Juenke, 57, stayed in the office with other staff members to monitor the worsening weather. Around 2:30 a.m., he joined camp director Dick Eastland — who later died while helping campers — and Eastland’s son to begin evacuating cabins by car. When rising water made driving impossible, Juenke made his way on foot to another cabin, known as the Wiggle Inn.

Once there, he realized the safest option was to stay put with the campers and wait out the storm.

The retired Houston Police Department officer told the newspaper he reminded himself of what he’d always said to his kids: “I’m coming home at the end of my shift.”

Although he admitted he was “terrified,” he did his best to hide it. “If I show that I am scared to death, that’s not going to do any good for the 9-year-old girls who were terrified,” he said.

Juenke said one of the camp counselors led the group in prayer as the storm raged outside. “We’re not going anywhere,” he shouted over the roar of the water, according to The Times. “We’re going to be OK.”

Juenke later shared that the loss of so many children, counselors, and staff has left him deeply shaken. “I’m a big crier, a big crier,” he said. “And I’m too numb to cry.”

He told CNN in a July interview that during the ordeal, he placed some of the girls on mattresses to help them stay afloat.

“Each of those sweet girls [were] cold, wet, and frightened — but they were also incredibly brave,” he added, according to WSVN. “They trusted me, and we leaned on each other through a long, harrowing night together inside their cabin.”