A heroic coast guard who saved 200 children’s lives on his first mission out has emotionally spoken out.
The deadly flood has swept through Kerr County. As of July 6, 82 people have sadly lost their lives with many more missing.
The flood has impacted many areas, including the site of Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott shared the heartbreaking news that 750 girls were at the camp at the time of the floods.
On July 7, Camp Mystic confirmed that 27 people, including girls and camp staff, were sadly killed.
They released a statement on their website which read: “Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,”.
26-year-old coast guard Scott Ruskan, who helped to save 200 people from the camp last week, has spoken out in an emotional interview with Good Morning America.
On Monday, he shared: “I just happened to be on the duty crew. We decided to leave me on scene at Camp Mystic. That was kind of our main triage site we were trying to help out with.
“I discovered I was the only person there as far as first responders go. So I had about 200, kids mostly. All scared, terrified, cold, having probably the worst day of their life. And I just kind of needed to triage them, get them to a higher level of care and get ’em off the flood zone.
“We came up with two different landing zones. There was one off an archery field and then one in a soccer field. We were able to kind of land those 60s [rescue helicopters] in there. I was the main guy as far as grabbing people.”
“Coast Guard rescue swimmers get some of the highest level training in the world. So really I relied on that, knowing that any of the rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard would have done the exact same if not better than me,” he said.
“They don’t really know what my experience is or my rank or my age. They just know, ‘Hey this guy is a professional, and he’s here to help us.’ And I had to live up to that standard.”
“The real heroes, I think, were the kids on the ground. Those guys are heroic, and they were dealing with some of the worst times of their lives, and they were staying strong. That helped inspire me to get in there and help them out.” he added.
What a hero.