What good would a knife have done in a flash flood? These were sleeping kids not men and certainly not hardened soldiers.
To cut through the tent; they got trapped in the canvas tents and couldn’t escape, they should have cut out. I can’t speak for kids today, but I was more a man at thirteen than most adults in ther 20s I meet now. The scouts was created pre-military training, my troop carried on that proud tradition, as did a few others with military men as leaders. 90% of my troop went into the Army, Marines, or CIA as soon as we turned 17. Most of us could have probably handled Army basic training at 13-14, so I think you underestimate what boys are capable of with the right training, discipline and leadership.