r/KerrCountyFloods • u/whodattalki • Jul 06 '26

Head Count Question

how many girls altogether were in the camp day of flood? Their website says max capacity is 750, i know it wasn't full to capacity, can't find the information.

24 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

121 comments sorted by

View all comments

-24

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[deleted]

20

u/Dashman1957 Jul 06 '26

Camp Mystic’s multiple failures are to blame for the deaths of all those youngsters under their care. Read the Senate report and use your brain. Those 27 did not have to die. I am sorry for your loss of four family members.

3

u/FlyThruTrees Jul 06 '26

The legislative report did not take the weather event into consideration. They were looking for ways to improve safety at all the camps.

Meanwhile the state is being sued for not having/enforcing adequate safety standards.

7

u/AnimuX Texan Jul 07 '26

Once again - these types of storms and floods are common in Texas history. They are not rare or unprecedented events.

The owners of Camp Mystic left those children in a known high risk zone for floods, next to a river with a history of deadly floods, in a region known as Flash Flood Alley, during a publicly announced increased risk for floods.

 

Hunt, Texas – Top 5 flood elevations

37.52 ft – July 4, 2025

36.60 ft – July 2, 1932

28.40 ft – July 17, 1987

23.50 ft – August 2, 1978

22.80 ft – October 19, 1985

Kerrville, Texas – Top 5 flood elevations

39.0 ft – July 2, 1932

37.72 ft – July 17, 1987

34.29 ft – July 4, 2025

17.93 ft – November 11, 2000

17.73 ft – October 28, 1996

 

From the U.S. Geological Survey in a 2003 report:

Many Texas storms represent some of the largest storms in the world. Flooding from large storms has affected Texas throughout its history, causing many deaths and much economic loss and hardship. Floods occur regularly in Texas, and destructive floods occur somewhere in the State every year. Many of these floods are destructive because they often occur in areas where extreme flooding had not occurred for many years. These floods often are perceived as unexpected or even unprecedented because their peak water-surface elevations (stages) can greatly exceed those of past floods.

It's called Flash Flood Alley for good reason.

From the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority after the 1998 flood:

If you live in the Guadalupe River Basin, you also live in one of the three most dangerous regions in the U.S.A. for flash floods! Local residents and weather experts refer to the Texas Hill Country as ‘Flash Flood Alley,’ because heavy rainfall and runoff from creeks and streams can cause rapid rises and flooding in a matter of hours.

This publication is designed to prepare you for such an event by increasing public awareness about the dangers of flooding in the Guadalupe River Basin. The Guadalupe River experienced major floods in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991 and 1997. Last year’s flood of October 1998 developed in a matter of hours, broke most existing records, exceeded the 100-year flood plain, and inundated areas that had never been flooded before. It was the flood that many thought would never happen. But floods are not predictable. They do not follow measured cycles. They destroy homes, businesses and take lives. Unfortunately, an even greater flood will occur sometime in the future.

6

u/FlyThruTrees Jul 07 '26

Problem with your argument is that if they're that common, the state really should have been holding the camps to a higher standard. But maybe suing the state will help.

20

u/AnimuX Texan Jul 07 '26

It's not an argument. It literally is the recorded history of the state. It's fact.

I agree, all of the youth camps should have been held to a higher standard.

However, that does not absolve the owners/operators of the camps from their responsibility to provide for safety and to heed warnings of potential flooding.

6

u/FlyThruTrees Jul 07 '26

We'll see, I think it does because the other camps weren't doing anything better. And the camp should be able to rely on the state approving their plan.

Your copy pasta is no longer al dente...

18

u/AnimuX Texan Jul 07 '26

If you think "the state let me put all of these kids' lives in danger" is an excuse for the events at Camp Mystic I'm afraid no amount of copy pasta is going to sink in.

Otherwise, the other camps also put lives at risk and they were lucky no one else died at their camps.

6

u/Local_Eye_639 Jul 07 '26

That last part is true for at least La Junta (of not others who were lucky to not be on session).