A coalition of Camp Mystic parents are slated to testify before the Texas Senate Disaster Preparedness and Flooding Select Committee which is considering reforms to increase safety at youth camps across the state.
"Our children’s lives were cut short because the safeguards in place were not enough," the Campaign for Camp Safety, a group that includes the Camp Mystic parents, said in a statement released this week ahead of Wednesday's hearing. "We are asking lawmakers to make sure no other family ever has to endure the pain we have lived with every day since July 4th."
The parents testifying on Wednesday are expected to make suggestions on how to improve camp safety along the Guadalupe River. In its statement, the group said they want lawmakers to require campgrounds in a 100-year floodplain like Camp Mystic to equip cabins with emergency rooftop ladders and develop flash flood evacuation plans.
"The families emphasized that while they continue to grieve, they are committed to turning their pain into meaningful and urgent change for all kids, on behalf of their angels they now refer to as 'Heaven’s 27,'" the Campaign for Camp Safety said in its statement.
Camp Mystic, one of 19 youth summer camps on the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas, was devastated on July 4 when torrential rains fell over a short amount of time, causing the river to overflow in the early morning hours of July 4, trapping many campers in their cabins. Officials in hard-hit Kerr County, where Camp Mystic is located, said that more than 12 inches of rain fell in under 6 hours, and that the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet per hour during the storm.
At least 130 people were killed in flash flooding across the Hill Country region, including 117 in Kerr County, officials said.
During an Aug. 1 hearing of the Texas House and Senate Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding, the Kerr County emergency management director conceded that he was sick and asleep as the water rose to historic levels on the Guadalupe River.
Other Kerr County officials testified that an inadequate flash-flood warning system upstream contributed to the disaster.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly testified that in the aftermath of the flooding, the county commissioned an independent hydrology study that confirmed the July weather event was a 1,000-year flood.
"By the time flooding became visible downstream, upstream communities, including multiple youth camps, were already under water," Kelly said.
When committee members asked Kelly why an evacuation order was not issued, he said, "It was too late."
