CNN’s Pam Brown Chokes Up, ‘Overwhelmed’ With Emotion as She Reports From Texas Girls Camp She Once Attended

CNN anchor Pamela Brown reflected how she felt “overwhelmed with emotion” as she reported from the ruins of Camp Mystic, the Texas all-girls’ Christian camp she once attended as a child, which was hit by deadly, catastrophic flooding over the weekend — with many young campers still missing.

The floods, triggered by a freak deluge on Friday, have claimed at least 80 lives statewide, including five girls just 8 and 9 years old, who were sleeping just feet from the rising Guadalupe River. Another 10 campers remain missing.

Reporting from the scene, Brown became choked up as she read the account of how camp counselors led some of the girls “hand to hand” to higher ground where they “cuddled” and sang songs.

“It just gives you chills,” Brown said after a pause.

In a candid moment, she opened up on her own time at the camp: “It’s surreal coming back here 30 years later. I was a 10-year-old little camper here, full of so much hope and joy. It’s a magical place and I remember the excitement and anticipation of coming to Camp Mystic. And, you know, the parent was telling me the same from her little girls who came this year. They just dropped them off on Sunday.”

She continued: “And for me, coming back, it’s just I’m overwhelmed with emotion and I’m overwhelmed with memories and I can’t get over looking at those cabins right next to the Guadalupe River. That river was the source of so much joy and fun for us.”

The anchor, now chief investigative correspondent and a regular on The Situation Room, described idyllic childhood summers spent searching for dinosaur fossils and launching each other into the river on “The Blob,” a giant inflatable balloon.

But the same river that once symbolized carefree innocence has now become a site of horror.

“To think that that same river is the source of this devastation, it’s just hard to wrap my head around,” she said. “And it’s such a magical place that now all these girls, these sweet young campers who had to evacuate and their families, so much innocence has now been lost. And you just can’t help but think about them and pray for them and just hope that more are found alive.”

Watch above via CNN.