The Coast Guard Who Rescued 165 People in Texas Floods
When they say 'Not all heroes wear capes', they are talking about Scott Ruskan.
When flash floods tore through Central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend in 2025, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Ruskan, a 26-year-old rescue swimmer from Oxford, New Jersey, became an unlikely hero. Stationed in Corpus Christi, Ruskan saved 165 lives, mostly young girls at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River, setting a Coast Guard record for a single mission. The floods, which killed at least 82 people, including 28 children, and left 41 missing, exposed the region’s vulnerability in the absence of a robust warning system.
Ruskan, on his first rescue mission since completing Aviation Survival Technician training in 2024, faced a chaotic scene at the Christian summer camp, where 750 girls were stranded as waters rose 20 to 26 feet in 90 minutes. Arriving after a six-hour helicopter flight through near-zero visibility, he chose to stay on the ground, coordinating 12 rescue helicopters—Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphins, Army Blackhawks, and National Guard units—while providing triage and comfort to terrified campers. “I saw a huge crowd of about 200 kids,” he told a morning show. “We were like, ‘Cool, that’s where we’re going to get as many people out as we can.’”
Shuttling groups of 10 to 15 children to safety, sometimes carrying two at a time, Ruskan reassured others he’d return, even letting them bring stuffed animals. A Rider University graduate with a degree in accounting, he described the effort simply: “This is why we do the job.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called him an “American hero,” while President Trump approved a federal disaster declaration for Kerr County, where over 400 first responders continue searching for survivors.
Ruskan remains humble, noting, “I’m just a dude doing a job.” His courage has sparked calls for better flood defenses in Texas’s Flash Flood Alley, where a proposed warning system was deemed too costly in 2017.
**Sources: The New York Times, The New York Post, Fox & Friends, GMA and
- *Newsweek*