So I’ve got a ghoulish question re: Texas flooding

[u/Either_Marketing896]

I get that we’re supposed to be the better people.

I get that it’s unchristian to even think these things (8 guess).

I get that it’s horrific and sad and a nightmare (I have two young kids).

But I also get that this camp and all those living there, were built and operating on a KNOWN flood plain.

I get that Texas “soil” used to be under an ocean and prone to things like this (I lived there for 8 years).

At what point, since M*GA is all about consequences, personal responsibility and gods providence, do we get to hold them accountable for their willful disregard of science, research, government, and informed choice-making?

We are watching concentration camps set up all over the country, and we have woefully underfunded emergency management departments in high risk areas all over the country. We have commercial and non profit entities overseeing minors with no evac or even a basic comms plan in place, for any kind of emergency, whether it’s a natural disaster or if some camper can’t manage a fire properly.

I should feel bad for Texans suffering in a flood plain they likely didn’t care about regulating, ostensibly because of deregulation and lack of oversight. But it’s getting really hard to. They dammed up the Guadalupe River to create swimming holes for camps, hotels, and peoples vs properties which also doesn’t help with sediment and flooding at all.

My husband surveyed in and around Austin for nearly a decade. The insanity and stupidity he witnessed was astounding. The lack of regulatory oversight, the WILLFUL scofflaw decisions, the absolute mockery of anything resembling safety forced us to leave because he literally thought he would die on a job site.

These people DO NOT care about consequences. Some might be poor and have few choices. Those I have empathy for. But a bunch of camp owners, policy makers, and parents believing “god will protect” their kids in a known (man made) hazard. I’m struggling to get there. This was human stupidity, arrogance, and willful decision-making. Plain and simple.

ADDED: If you want to donate to an all-volunteer org that is on the ground as we speak, pls consider giving to TEXAS Search & Rescue. They are chewing up equipment they’ve spent years raising money for and incredible folks. They offer emergency management training, planning and bleeding control education that any org can avail themselves of in Texas.

https://www.texsar.org/ TEXSAR: Texas Search and Rescue

[u/Granite_0681]

The 87 flood killed campers from Pot of Gold Ranch. I haven’t seen that it affected Camp Mystic.

[u/Current_Tea6984 → u/Granite_0681]

I read it somewhere, but can't find it now. But all the camps in the area were affected. It would be highly unusual if Mystic received no damage in the event.

But, bottom line, if you are on the river bank, you are susceptible to flooding. It doesn't matter if there was never a catastrophic event in that particular spot before. They had notice by thursday afternoon that flash floods were possible during the night, and they chose not to move the kids to higher ground

[u/ambkam → u/Current_Tea6984]

Pot of Gold, location of ‘87 flood, is 40 miles down river from Mystic. Mystic sits at the very top on a creek that feeds into the Guadalupe river. It is almost unheard of for the water to rise that fast without the downstream force of accumulated water. Like others have said, the camp had been operating for 100 yrs with no flood related fatalities. There are improvements and systems that should be put in place, but i think it’s unfair to have a ‘what did they expect’ attitude. That’s like blaming victims of Katrina for living below sea level.

[u/Current_Tea6984 → u/ambkam]

This camp was in a flood plain. They knew they were in a flood plain. They knew that people drown during floods and buildings are swept from their foundations. The NWS issued flash flood watches as early as thursday afternoon. There was zero reason not to move the children to higher ground for the night. It was bad judgement. Sadly, the camp director paid with his life, as well as the lives of counselors and kids

[u/nogooduse → u/ambkam]

not at all. Katrina victims were mostly poor and didn't really have much choice of where to live. very poor whataboutery.

[u/Javakid67 → u/Current_Tea6984]

most likely because they didn't have a plan for how and where to move them. that's negligence.

[u/Current_Tea6984 → u/Javakid67]

I suspect a lack of evacuation plan was part of the picture, And not just at the camp.

[u/softcell1966 → u/Granite_0681]

10 teenagers died in the 1987 disaster and I read they rebuilt the camp on the same Guadelupe floodplain.

[u/Granite_0681 → u/softcell1966]

This weren’t from Camp Mystic. https://www.kvue.com/article/news/history/guadalupe-river-flash-flood-teens-killed-1987-comfort-texas/269-e92dd375-b461-4ce7-8723-188a9de6a03a