Posted on 07/10/2025 6:04:52 PM PDT by Round Earther
For decades, girls have flocked to Camp Mystic to spend their summer days canoeing and fishing the Guadalupe River before retreating to bunk beds in rustic cabins just steps from the glimmering water.
Many of those cabins were built in designated flood zones, records show, and some were so close to the river’s edge that they were considered part of the river’s “floodway” — a corridor of such extreme hazard that many states and counties ban or severely restrict construction there. Texas’ Kerr County, where Camp Mystic is located, adopted its own stringent floodway rules, which required that construction in such areas be limited in order to better “protect human life.”
But six years ago, when Camp Mystic pursued a $5 million construction project to overhaul and expand its private, for-profit Christian camp, no effort was made to relocate the most at-risk cabins away from the river. Instead, local officials authorized the construction of new cabins in another part of the camp — including some that also lie in a designated flood-risk area. The older ones along the river remained in use.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Many of those cabins were built in designated flood zones, records show, and some were so close to the river’s edge that they were considered part of the river’s “floodway” — a corridor of such extreme hazard that many states and counties ban or severely restrict construction there. Texas’ Kerr County, where Camp Mystic is located, adopted its own stringent floodway rules, which required that construction in such areas be limited in order to better “protect human life.”
But six years ago, when Camp Mystic pursued a $5 million construction project to overhaul and expand its private, for-profit Christian camp, no effort was made to relocate the most at-risk cabins away from the river. Instead, local officials authorized the construction of new cabins in another part of the camp — including some that also lie in a designated flood-risk area. The older ones along the river remained in use.
“For the current fee of $4,375 for a thirty-day session, Mystic girls learn to shoot rifles, ride horses, catch bass, hike in the August sun without complaint.”
it isn’t that expensive. should’ve raise the price to cover the upgrade.
The NY Slime cannot help but take the negative on any aspect of Christianity.The enemy within. Remember Walter Duranty Slime?
For a thousand bucks a week, you would think they would keep your kid safe. But they thought they could squeeze out a few more million by building in the food plain.
Johnny Cash had a song about the river rising and asks ‘how high is the river...’.
Situational awareness,
An evacuation plan should have been in place.
More so.
This campers should not have been housed in the floodway at all or in the floodway fringe area without flood proofing measures which require
elevating the structure.
You nailed it. These four New Yawk Slimes maggots come in the extra slimy version.
Church camp was maybe $130 for a week, when I went.
Wow.
Didn’t read it after seeing 4 reporterettes. Always means a crap propaganda piece.
NY Slimes.
Not worth lining a bird cage.
Either the owners of the camp built children’s cabins in a designated floodway, or they did not. What is clear, however, is that they housed children in a low-lying area known to be vulnerable to catastrophic flooding.
I don’t get it. That place has been around 100 years. They know the Guadalupe floods periodically. Perhaps a half-dozen times in a 100 year period. Why would they build cabins in a flood plain?
I’ve been in Texas 30 years and every year, somewhere in the state, it’s the same sad story: someone thought their vehicle could make the crossing during the storm. Somebody’s vacation cabin or bungalow on the river’s edge gets swept away in the flood.
The radio is constant in Central Texas with “Turn around. Don’t drown” PSAs.
No one knows where the rain will fall. But the rivers and channels where the rain will flow into are all known.
The weather pattern in the Texas Hill Country is familiar and well-documented: a year or two of drought followed by intense, often sudden rainfall.
That heavy rain may not flood the river or creek nearest to you, but it almost certainly means that flooding will occur somewhere in the region. This cycle is predictable, and its risks are neither new nor surprising.
It’s not anti-Christian to point out that that camp, loaded with young girls, should not have been in a flood plain in a region known as ‘Flash Flood Alley’. The camp, the county, and the state are all culpable in this catastrophe.
The only thing slimy is the camp owners knew from previous drastic floods that their camp was a hazard to life, yet they continued to use not only those cabins most at risk of flooding AND added more in high flood risk areas!
That is a spirit of greed, over wisdom from God. God allowed their choice and showed patience, but the owners persisted in maintaining buildings in known hazardous spots.
Could have been avoided, even without sirens or additional warning systems talked of in other articles. Just needed people doing the right thing instead of the easy thing or most advantageous thing for making more money instead of truly being focused on the safety of campers and staff in their care.
If you took a national survey....there’s probably 10k structures on a flood plain. Most will make it through a 50-year cycle.
“For a thousand bucks a week, you would think they would keep your kid safe. But they thought they could squeeze out a few more million by building in the food plain.”
A bit harsh because the camp was founded far before the law requiring new construction to be above the 100 year flood plain - something not mentioned in the article.
Yes, camp management could have over the years implemented a plan to move camp sites away from the river as improvements and new construction happened but even that would not have helped much this time.
“The camp, the county, and the state are all culpable in this catastrophe.”
That is absolutely correct.
“A bit harsh because the camp was founded far before the law requiring new construction to be above the 100 year flood plain.”
Yes, but the construction of the new cabin occurred ~95 years after the camp was founded and long after the area of the camp was designated as a floodway which is far different than a 100 year “flood plain.”
By the way, would you house your children in a floodway?
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