US Coast Guard hero saves 165 kids from Texas floods on his very first mission

A US Coast Guard has recalled the moment he arrived at Camp Mystic to help rescue children stranded by flash floods. The children were part of an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas.

Torrential rain caused the river to swell from about three feet to 30 feet on Friday. Flood waters swept through several youth camps, including the one where the girls were staying. Search and rescue teams rushed to the area to help locate survivors and take them to safety.

Among them was Petty Officer Scott Ruskan of the US Coast Guard, who was on his first rescue mission since joining the force.

The 26-year-old had left his previous career as an accountant before enlisting, and had graduated from rescue swimming school around six months ago.

The flood waters had swept away bridges and roads, meaning the only way to reach the camp was by helicopter.

What was supposed to be a one-hour flight to a landing zone near the camp took six to seven hours, as the crew battled terrible weather conditions.

At the camp the rescuers found about 200 terrified and cold children, who had managed to scramble to safety when the raging flood waters hit the camp.

Camp staff and counsellors had pushed children through cabin windows or placed them on mattresses to help them stay afloat in the rising waters, as the flood hit.

The team and its aircraft was urgently needed at another place, so decided to leave Rukan on his own at the camp as a triage coordinator.

For more than three hours he was the only rescuer on site and did his best to comfort the distressed children.

"They're having probably the worst day of their life. They're missing friends. They're missing loved ones," he told CNN.

Texas Air National Guard helicopters later landed at the camp's archery and football field, from where the survivors were flown to satay.

Ruskan helped rescue approximately 165 campers and was hailed as an "American hero" by the Department of Homeland Security.

But he said the other counsellors who helped rescue efforts and the tough kids were also heroes.