Fact Check: Three missing girls found alive in hollow tree 10 days after Texas floods

CENTRAL POINT, TEXAS: More than a fortnight after flash floods devastated Texas, a strange claim has gone viral online. The claim reported that three girls who went missing during Texas's deadly July floods were reportedly found alive, sheltering inside a hollow tree.

The bizarre report is now attracting attention across the internet and raising questions about how such an unbelievable story could even be possible. Whether the story is a miracle, a myth, or a case of misreporting, let's find the facts behind it.

Claim: Three missing girls rescued from hollow tree after Texas floods

According to a Facebook user identified as "American Colum," a viral rumor began circulating on social media in mid-July 2025. The post claimed that three girls, who had gone missing during the devastating floods around Texas’ Guadalupe River, were found alive inside a hollow tree more than a week later.

The floods, which struck over the Fourth of July weekend, claimed at least 135 lives, and many are still missing.

The viral post, shared on July 19, included a collage of rescue scenes and bore the sensational caption: "3 Missing Texas Girls Found Alive in a Hollow Tree 1 Mile From Camp — They Survived Nearly 10 Days Thanks to These 2 Things..."

The post has since garnered over 7K reactions, 1.3Kcomments, and has been widely shared across various social media platforms. The same caption was also used as the headline of an accompanying article.

The article read, "In what's being called one of the most miraculous survival stories in American history, three girls who vanished during the Texas flood disaster have been found alive — tucked inside the hollow of an ancient oak tree just one mile from the ravaged Camp Wrenwood."

It added, "The girls — Emily Rivera, Zoey Nash, and Hope Lin, ages 8 to 10 survived for nearly 10 days with no food, using only rainwater and lessons from a wilderness safety drill they had completed days before the storm."

Many commenters responded with overwhelming emotion, praising the story as a miracle and expressing gratitude. One user wrote, "The BEST news!! Please be the TRUTH!!!! Can’t wait to hear how they survived and how happy those families must be."

Another commented, "Thank you Lord🙏🙏🙏. I believe that they were saved because God has plans for them. To spread His words of Salvation and be worthy of His Kingdom for eternal life🙏❤️❤️." A third simply said, "What a miracle!"

Fact Check: False, the story about rescue of three missing girls has been debunked

Despite its widespread circulation on social media, the story claiming that three missing girls were found alive a week after the Texas floods is entirely unfounded and has been proven false for multiple reasons.

The tale of the girls surviving inside a hollow tree after the 2025 Texas floods is entirely fictional. It appears to be part of a growing trend of AI-generated stories created to attract clicks and advertising revenue on unreliable websites.

Notably, no credible news outlets have reported on such an event. According to Snopes, searches on Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google, and Yahoo turned up no legitimate coverage of the alleged rescue. 

The false story spread widely through social media posts that redirected users to ad-heavy blogs, which are often built solely to generate traffic and profit.

These blog articles typically lacked verifiable details, sources, or author bylines. Many were simply copy-pasted or slightly reworded versions of each other. Additionally, the story itself presented a highly improbable scenario involving young children surviving for days inside a tree, further casting doubt on its authenticity.

Importantly, the names mentioned in the story – Emily Rivera, Zoey Nash, and Hope Lin – do not appear in any credible reports of missing or rescued children from the floods, further confirming the story’s lack of legitimacy.

This article contains remarks made on the internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online