Jacque White, a mother of five, stopped her minivan on Friday not far from a pile of debris next to the Guadalupe River and surveyed the damage. She called her children out of the vehicle, then took a closer look and snapped a photo of the devastation.

Just a week ago, she somehow managed to evacuate all her children from the small cabin near this spot where they had lived since her divorce three years ago — “our safe space,” she called it — and lived to tell the story. It is not lost on her that the Fourth of July floods in Central Texas have been among the deadliest for children, killing dozens, many of them girls from Camp Mystic, and more than 120 people overall. Scores are still missing.

“I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had not evacuated on time,” Ms. White said. “My children are my life.”

A week later, it was time, she thought, for the family of six to take the somber pilgrimage to a rural road in Kerr County, Texas, to see what was left. She stepped tentatively into their cabin and tried to assess what could be salvaged. Her children, ages 5, 7, 10, 11 and 13, followed her, each one running to the rooms they share, and inspected their damaged toys, dolls and sports gear.

Ms. White took a deep breath. The furniture, now in the pile of debris, was gone, as was most of their clothes. The cabin had drifted some 20 feet away from its moorings and had a strong mold smell. “We won’t be able to return here for a while,” she said.