'I could picture myself there': Former Camp Mystic camper and counselor discusses flooding tragedy

TEXAS (CBS 58) -- Jennifer Sanders started spending summers at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas back in 1989.

She was a camper there until 1995, then became a counselor for 10 years until 2005.

Twenty years later, tragedy struck at the all-girls summer camp, in the middle of a severe and deadly flash-flooding event.

"I could picture myself there," Sanders said. "Every cabin that was affected, the whole camp, I knew every place they were talking about."

CBS News is reporting that over 100 people have died from the flooding, including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic.

"I was hopeful at first, but as I read more about how fast the water came and how quickly it rose, my heart broke," Sanders said. "It was a safe place for me for so long, and it was not a safe place for that."

Sanders says there were nights when she and other counselors would stay in another city away from camp because of minor flooding.

"We would get the night off, and we would go into Kerrville, and the river would wash the road out for the evening," Sanders said. “That was like the worst we'd ever experienced.”

Twenty years after Sanders was last at Camp Mystic, she plans on getting there as soon as she can to help with recovery efforts.

"It was surreal, because it was such a tranquil, beautiful place," Sanders said.