For Texas House District 30 Representative AJ Louderback, the pain of such a tragedy is simply unfathomable.

He grieves for not only those who have lost their lives in the catastrophic floods near Kerrville, Texas, but also for the families—especially the of the 27 girls and counselors who were swept up in the raging waters that covered Camp Mystic, a non-denominational Christian institution that has hosted the children of some of Texas’s elite over its 99-year history, over the July 4th holiday weekend.

And the death toll continues to rise. Forbes.com reported at 2 p.m. Monday that 90 people had perished in the flood, including 28 children

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating. There’s probably a lack of proper vocabulary to talk about how this has impacted and will continue to impact Texas for many years to come,” said Louderback, who was in Victoria Sunday evening to honor Gary Moses during Brother Gary Moses Night at the Victoria Generals game at Riverside Park. “My heart goes out to them in so many ways. I have children and grandchildren, and it’s almost unthinkable to try to deal with something like this.”

Camp Mystic has played host to the children of many well-known individuals its nearly century of existence. Former First Lady Laura Bush was a camp counselor there, and past camp attendees included the daughters of former US President Lyndon B. Johnson and former Texas Gov. John Connally.

One of the girls lost in the flood has been identified as 9-year-old Janie Hunt, the cousin of Kansas City Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt.

“There are such good reasons to send your child to church camp and they never return home,” Louderback said. “We are offering everything we have to try to ease their burdens any way we can. We pray that there is some hope that we can make some changes that would prevent this from ever happening again. It’s an emotional time.

Kerr County officials Monday reported that 75 bodies have been recovered from weekend flooding, including two dozen victims who have yet to be identified.

Local police in Kerrville, which took the brunt of the flooding, have asked non-residents to avoid the area because they might hamper the efforts of first responders.

The natural disaster brought with it some of the worst flooding in Texas since Memorial Day weekend in 2015, when the city of Wimberley was overcome by raging flood waters and 13 lives were lost. The July 4th holiday weekend tragedy has been much more costly.

Since he was first informed of the flooding, Louderback said he has been, as a state lawmaker, devising some ideas to help to prevent such an occurrence from happening again.

“We need to get fully educated on what’s out there, what’s available, and what we can put in place that would be effective,” Louderback said. “We need preparation. I am closely aligned with the law enforcement contingent in the Texas House, and I think all of these things will be brought up and looked at, discussed in due time. We don’t know when these kinds of things are just going to pop up, when 18 inches of rain are going to be dumped in an area like this. We need now to gather around and gather hands and let’s take a look at this and see what we can come up with.”

Local humanitarian aid efforts are being assembled to help the victims of the flooding. Scott Weatherford, the former pastor at Parkway Baptist Church in Victoria and the founder and lead pastor of Building Lives Churches, will head to the Kerrville area Tuesday with independent contractor Scott Tidwell to do some preliminary scouting on the situation.

Weatherford said he will take with him $500 in HEB gift cards to hand out to pastors in the area who will distribute the cards are needed.

“This is going to be a months-long effort, not a week-long event,” Weatherford said. “There’s not a lot you can say about this, but there is a great passage of scripture in Isaiah 57, that the righteous die before their time and no one seems to understand why. But for those who die, that they shall rest in peace with the Lord. We know these children are safe with the Lord now. For the families, we need to cry with them, hold them, listen to them and love them.”

Shawn A. Akers is the managing editor of the Victoria Advocate. He can be reached at shawn.akers@vicad.com.