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A Summer Camp Reopens in the Texas Hill Country

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When Kenny Hudnall looked out the window of his mother’s minivan on Monday, he could see the destruction wrought by the floodwaters of the Guadalupe River on July 4: fat cypress trees snapped like twigs, kayaks dangling from debris piles 30 feet off the ground.

Volunteers were still working to clear the mess, many wielding chain saws. But Mr. Hudnall, a 21-year-old college student, could not join them. He was partially paralyzed in a car crash at age 5 and needs a wheelchair to move and a ventilator to breathe.

Still, he had a part to play in the rebirth of Texas Hill Country after the deadly floods of July 4 that left at least 132 dead and nearly 100 still missing. Mr. Hudnall was traveling to Camp CAMP (Children’s Association for Maximum Potential), which was improbably welcoming new campers, many with physical and cognitive challenges too serious for other camps, little more than a week after the deadly deluge.

“Seeing those volunteers on the road was very similar to the vibe at camp,” Mr. Hudnall said. “It’s bringing normalcy to a person who doesn’t always feel normal.”

The reopening of a summer camp on Monday heralded the green shoots already sprouting in the flood’s wake, and it felt particularly poignant, and perhaps a little scary. One of the most indelible horrors of the flood was Camp Mystic, 30 miles upriver, where more than two dozen campers, counselors and other employees lost their lives.