Bubble Inn saw generations of 8-year-olds enter as strangers and emerge as confident young ladies equipped with new skills from the great outdoors and lifelong friends – bonds that would one day prove vital in the face of unfathomable tragedy.

Multiple parts of Central Texas, including Kerr County, were shocked by flash floods Friday when the Guadalupe River and others rose rapidly.

The state leaves building zoning and permits up to the individual counties. And in most non-city counties, such as Kerr, which had 96 deaths as of Thursday due to floods, some officials tend to be lenient towards building owners with restrictions, some state leaders and environmental experts told ABC News.

Dick Eastland, the Camp Mystic owner who pushed for flood alerts on the Guadalupe River, was killed in last week’s deadly surge.

Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.

Follow for live updates in the Texas flooding as the death toll rises to 120, as rescue operations start to shift to recovery phase

Renee Smajstrla, a 8-year-old straight-A student from Ingram, Texas, who had played a role in her school’s production of “The Wizard of Oz,” was one of the victims who died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, her family said.

Just two days before devastating floods claimed at least 27 lives at Camp Mystic, the Texas Department of State Health Services signed off on the youth camp's emergency plans, according to records obtained by ABC News.