A Texas summer camp near the Guadalupe River evacuated about 70 children and adults after camp officials noticed rising waters and a deluge of rain early on the Fourth of July. 

The 500-acre Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, a recreation destination which had been hosting a summer camp, as well as a youth conference with churches across the U.S., is located at the headwaters of the river and had been monitoring the situation for about 24 hours, Mo-Ranch communications director Lisa Winters told KENS5.

It was about 1 a.m. Friday when a facilities manager, Aroldo Barrera, notified his boss, who had been monitoring reports of the storms approaching, the Associated Press reported. 

Despite the absence of warning by local authorities, camp officials at Mo-Ranch acted quickly on their own, relocating about 70 children and adults staying overnight in a building near the river. With the kids safe, camp leaders including President and CEO Tim Huchton avoided the catastrophe that hit at least one other camp near Hunt, Texas.

Winters told the AP that Mo-Ranch received no direct information from county officials about flooding that could – and did – take lives. 

“We had no warning this was coming,” Winters said, adding that it would have been “devastating” had camp officials not been looking at weather reports and the rising river waters. 

Mo-Ranch “saw it coming well in advance, and they did something about it,” she said.

Winters told KENS that there are hundreds of camps located along the Guadalupe River, and Mo-Ranch sits on the top of the cliffs in Hunt. 

By about 7 a.m. on Friday, camp staff began contacting children’s parents, telling them their kids were safe. 

“They knew that those parents would wake up and just see all this media footage of kids lost, or the river,” Winters told the AP. “They’re like, ‘Tell your parents you’re OK’ … We made sure every single guest, every single kid, was accounted for.”

A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, a riverside summer camp in Texas. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

The camp, which sits on higher ground than some in the area, suffered some damage, but not as significant as others, Winters said. 

“The buildings don’t matter,” she said. “I can’t imagine losing children, or people.” 

She said a sturdy aluminum kayak was wrapped around a tree “like a pretzel.” 

“That just shows you the sheer power of the water. I don’t know how any people could survive. We’re blessed,” she said.

The camp remained closed on Sunday and Mo-Ranch was working on ways to help other camps affected by the flood.

“We’re in a difficult place because others are really suffering,” Winters, who became emotional during an interview, told the AP. “We’re a sisterhood of camps. We take care of each other.”