User Reviews

this movie had a kind of 'movie of the week' feel to.i don't mean that in a bad way.it is a very touching and heartbreaking movie,so you might want to have some Kleenex handy.it's the story of some kids from Texas who are caught in a flash flood on their way home from bible camp.the story is more personal,since it is on a smaller scale.i really felt for those kids as they tried to survive.i also really felt for the survivors who had lost loved ones and the parents of the ones who perished.this movie is not so much about a disaster,as it is about the human beings who survive and how they and their families cope with the tragedy and the realization of loss.i thought this movie explored that aspect very well and was well acted.it is a hard movie to watch,even more so,because it is inspired by a real life tragedy.it's hard to say i enjoyed this movie,because of the subject matter.so,i have to base my rating on the acting,which is the focal point of the movie,and the strongest.on that basis,i give 'Flood.Who will save our children'6.5/10

I did see another comment that mentioned how inaccurate it was and I must agree. I'm sure for someone that doesn't know all the real details, this would be a great movie. While I must say, it was quite funny to see my British father played by an Australian actor. That was the least of the inaccuracies in the movie but I'm glad to see so many enjoyed it. I saw this when it first aired and have not been able to watch it since. The first time, my family and I just sat and wondered who could have chosen those actors who were not even remotely close to the real people. Also, much of the real story did not come across well at all. Oh well, I'm sure it's not easy to put one of these movies together and get it all right.

The movie is based on a real incident which I observed and have researched.In real life,all the children who drowned were morbidly obese and did not know how to swim.In the movie there is not a single fat kid (do you remember Summer camp ?) News accounts at the time stated flatly that the authorities had phoned the camp director and warned him to stay where he was rather than risk flooded roads.In the movie,he is a hero.The local tabloid TV people jammed all the rescue communications by usurping the relevant bandwidth.A TV news chopper was there first,they had a rope,they could have saved most of the children clinging to trees .They chose to film the tragedy instead.In the movie,they are heroes. The 3 Bible camp school buses were being driven by unlicensed teenagers. In Texas,it is perfectly normal and legal for children to be obese and not know how to swim,as well as all the other factors that contributed to all these children dying.But there certainly were no heroes in the real world except the kids who helped each other.

This movie airs once or twice a year and every year I watch it and get caught up in it all over again. Based on a true life event, you can't help but get engrossed as you watch the kids struggling through the horrible flood that would take 10 lives. The film is not without its faults, primarily inaccuracies and embellishments that the film makers thought would make the story more "entertaining". First off, the bus never drove into a river as depicted and the driver got the kids off the bus much faster than portrayed. Secondly, the true "Hero" of the disaster in real life, a young man who saved several friends before last being seen and incidentally was never found, is portrayed as a bit of a "jerk". Unfortunately he never gets the acknowledgement that he truly deserves by the film makers (although in real life President Bush did present a posthumus award in his name). I think that the film would have been just as gripping if the story had been told as it really happened, in fact, it would probably have been even more gut-wrenching if we were allowed to really like and mourn the character. That being said, the movie is well written, well acted and really does pay tribute those 10 who lost their lives in the disaster and to the brave strangers who risked their lives to try to save them. I hope that this movie continues to air, year after year, so that these Children will not be forgotten. True lovers of this movie can now purchase it on DVD.

A well made movie that absolutely was riveting once the bus and van entered the water. It did play with the facts a little bit, especially with some of the kids. I believe the movie was filmed in Australia. With that said, I was impressed with how much the locations for the the film looked like the Texas Hill Country. I also was impressed with the camera work once the kids were in the water. It was as though you were in the river with them. I was a reporter from the area that covered this tragic story and have kept in touch with a couple of the kids (now adults, many with families). and of all the stories I covered this one affected me the most and I appreciate that a movie was made about that July day so long ago.

I would like to respond directly to the comments of "brazilvi" dated 6/8/06. Your comments about the movie itself containing irresponsible inaccuracies are perfectly fair and I agree with them. However, your comments which reflect your knowledge of the incident are absolutely ridiculous and reflect a complete lack of responsibility. While I appreciate your "observation" and "research" of the incident, allow me to speak from a position of being, in all fairness, more informed - as I am a survivor of this tragedy that occurred 20 years ago next month. As such, I can assure you that your comment that "In real life, all the children who drowned were morbidly obese and did not know how to swim" is complete ignorant speculation on your part which is also, in fact, untrue.

Not only is your uninformed, sweeping assertion of the victims' weight and swimming abilities completely incorrect (since I knew each one of them personally, you'll have to take my word for it), but your allusion to their ability to swim somehow being a "factor that contributed to all these children dying" only further displays your complete ignorance of the circumstance surrounding the incident. Picture a water level rising 30 – 40 feet in under 60 seconds with the current forces strong enough to lift mature trees over 6 feet in diameter completely out of the ground and carry them down stream. Have even an Olympic gold medalist's swimming ability in that circumstance would be as useful as having the ability to throw a 100 mph fastball directly at an oncoming locomotive. At that point, it's simply in God's (or, if you prefer, fate's) hands.

Further, to state that "3 Bible camp school buses were being driven by unlicensed teenagers" is equally ignorant and void of any factual knowledge whatsoever. There were 2 buses and a van directly involved in the incident. As I was seated in one, and witnessed all three traveling (and, again, personally knew the drivers) I can assure that all three were licensed adults.

Lastly, your suggestion that the news chopper with a rope could have saved "most of the children clinging to the trees" but, instead chose to film is also ridiculous and untrue. While an untrained television crew with only a rope is not the ideal circumstance for rescue (versus a well-equipped, highly-trained rescue team), the crew did, in fact, make several attempts at rescuing victims, but with no success. Many of us witnessed these unsuccessful attempts personally. I can assure you, those memories are ones I would much rather forget. Suffice it to say that had they continued these efforts, the chances of the victim count being much higher than 10 is very likely. Nevertheless, they did at least try.

Finally, I do agree with one other thing you stated, which is the title of your comment: "The real heroes were the kids." The rest of your irresponsibly ignorant babble is embarrassing for you and is disrespectful to the living and deceased victims of that terrible tragedy. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I am one of the characters portrayed in the movie. My name is Linda Smith, the mother of Michael, Stacey and Tonya. The movie was well done, with some exceptions. Jerry Smith never was angry at his son, and he never told him to take care of his sisters. The young man who saved Jeff Bowman's life should have been given much more credibility. I knew him and he was a wonderful young man. He lost his life and his body was never found. He did receive the Young American's Medal For Bravery Award, given by Presidents Bush and Reagan. Also, the part about Tonya and her friend in the river really happened. It is good that the movie is shown twice a year because these ten young people deserve to be remembered. It can also serve as a reminder that you can't be two careful when young people are in your care. I appreciate NBC making the movie and especially thank David Kinghorn for his original screen writing.

I enjoyed this movie when I get a chance to see it. It shows what mother nature's furies can be like in a blink of an eye. I lost a cousin when he was a toddler to canal waters that came in fast. I don't care if it's six inches of water or six feet of water, the ignorance of some people who have left comments must have no idea what raging force lies behind a "Flood" or any other natural disaster. I admire all the writers, producers, directors, actors/actresses who I think did a really fantastic job in telling a story. My heart goes out to all the families, friends, survivors, rescuers, etc. who were there and have to live with this ordeal for the rest of their lives.

It's been a while since i saw this, i saw it on TV when i was younger and i loved it. I cried so much it's just so sad. Especially at the end when some of the kids approach their friends' parents and tell them how much their daughter loved them and she was sorry for not being able to go on. It's so sad, it's horrible but i would love to see it again sometime. I definately recommend it, with plenty of tissues

Marcibun made a comment on this movie that I kind-of disagree with; the writer states that the so-called jerk was not given the credit he deserved. I believe marcibun is referring to "Brad" played by David Lascher; I do not think he was portrayed as a jerk at all - first, he took care of his friend with the broken leg by carrying him around anywhere and I did not think he was a jerk for turning him down once to hang-out with a girl. Second, I know he was kissing one then when that one was on another bus he finally asked "Leanne" to sit with him but this was nothing more than being a teenager. Trust me; my heart ached for any of the children that died, no matter how their part portrayed their personalities.

I wish I knew if that were true or not about the driver did not drive into the water as shown on the movie because I know people do that and I was shocked to see the pick-up truck attempt it, then even more shocked to see the pick-up truck make it; but I understand that the water was lower and raised rather quickly so maybe at first the bus could have made it; no one knew the river would rise that quick. I just kept asking myself "Why would you do that with 40 of someone else's children?" I still felt sorry for him and I know he was very sorry - more than we could ever imagine but I still wonder! I was glad the driver had a girlfriend who tried to raise his spirits and I was glad when they were at the funeral and the one with Leukemia acknowledge the driver's efforts. (I do not know all the names by-heart yet but I will when I own this DVD!)

Maybe I might be "strange" but I do not think I could have been any more sympathetic towards the people affected by this disaster than I already am. Heck, I even tried to find the "true" victims by searching for stories and pictures; the only thing I found was a Dallas paper and articles from The Washington Post that you have to purchase, and I almost did (but did not).

Therefore, I am not totally disagreeing with marcibun because this person seems to know more about the incident than I did but I do think "Brad" was given credit, maybe not as much as he was entitled too but without knowing the full story, a person watching the film will not know that the person was "ripped off". The movie gives us reason to feel sympathy for this person and I especially felt for him when Leanne stated she wished he (Brad) would die but did not mean it; that moment made you feel for her and for "Brad." I do not think my heart and head could have taken any more "gut-wrenching" truth; these were young children and I calculated that they would now be my age or a little younger and it is still sad – 20 years later.

I know I am asking myself a lot of "what if" questions so I cannot imagine what the people involved were/are still thinking so I only hope the driver, the parents of the survivors, the parents of the children that passed away, the children who survived, and the friends have ALL found a way to be at peace with this very sad disaster.

I'm always a 'sucker' for a true story!

I think as a fan Of Renee O Connor I should Say that I love this movies a lot, but I'm not going to do that! That movie is awesome anyways even if she was not in it.

The Flood Rules. Renee O Connor Rules

It's a good movie, I cried all the way through it, maybe because I'm a mom myself and couldn't bear it if anything happened to my kids. Being a "neighbours" fan (australian soap) I recognized a lot of the actors because this movie is australian, although I also spotted a few american actors.

Being a true story always gets to me. Besides, I love a good cry (when I'm alone)

HI does any1 know were i can get this film on DVD in the UK?please help xi really loved this film watched it lots of times but never been able to find it on DVD or video i cried all the way through god bless them children and there family's they must have gone through hell its a fantastic film and would love to visit Texas one day to see the memorial there is so many tragedy's in the world today i pray every day for some peace to people who have grieved in there lives its the worst feeling in the world i lost my uncle 6years ago and its still upsetting to me after all this time he will always be around me in spirit just like those 10 children who lost there lives will be in there family's memory's forever and ever always

I was only watching it at first because it had a few stars from australian soap "Neighbours" in, but the story was interesting so i carried on. Its a good movie, but very sad, i advise lots of tissues before you start the film. It's about a group of church kids on camp, that have to leave early because the rain is pouring down, and they need to leave otherwise they are going to get flooded. They leave ok but they have to cross a river, sadly the bus breaks down in the middle of the river, so all the kids have to get off. But by that time the river has gone higher up and it is forming a strong current. The bus goes down the river, and the children are left stranded untill help finds them! Very sad, but very good!!

I saw this movie when it first aired. I remembered it had cute boys (Josh from Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and I cried. It was so sad that so many children had to suffer. I wish I could find some of these great made-for-TV movies on tape or DVD. I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone.