From the AP…. “Lester was among the older girls housed on elevated ground known as Senior Hill. Cabins housing the younger campers, who can start attending at age 8, are situated along the riverbanks and were the first to flood, she said.” … smart, put the 8 year olds at the highest risk. Good job, Noah.
If you don’t have a weather radio to get the warning…. How rural is the area? Kerr County pop is 50k. Resources or systems in place? I know the Gov said it is up to locals to get the word out. Layers..
A few years ago I attended a wedding in that area. Stayed at a rustic hotel about a half mile from Camp Mystic. Beautiful area. It's not that far from Kerrville, which is a town of about 25k people, but it feels very remote once you get outside of that town.
Both sides probably need to stop pointing fingers. US pastor, who believes floods are God's punishment, flees flooded home GOP Congressional Candidate Believes God Created Storms Because Of Gay Rights Tucker Carlson Claims Abortions Cause Hurricanes During Bizarre Rant
We'll see when more information comes in but if the low lying cabins weren't evacuated that's inexcusable. With a flood warning 18 hours in advance and a flash flood warning 5 hours in advance, there was plenty of warning and plenty of time to get those kids to higher ground.
They were, but the flood waters actually crested the entire hill, all the way up to the offices. From the texags thread.
Appreciate the insight. I grew up with a crazy religious segment of my family that did a bunch of stuff that, even as a kid, just made no sense to me compared to teaching of the Bible and Torah.
The Texas AG forum Seems to conflict with the Kerrville Gauge data which shows nowhere near 35 feet of rise and makes this only the 3rd highest flood on record. Guadalupe River at Kerrville
There are definitely pictures of the office being flooded, and kids missing from those cabins up top. The water crested the hill almost certainly, the two previous big floods didn’t get that high according to a number of people familiar with the area.. Don’t know what the hydrodynamics are on how it happened though.
Maybe…. The gauge doesn’t show it, though. It’s possible the gauge got stuck, I guess. FWIW, there are floods on record of 39 and 37 feet for that gauge, so even if they are right, a 35 foot flood isn’t “unprecedented”… could have been planned for. Edit… I found a map of the camp layout and the rec hall, dining hall, and office, are shown in the second image I posted in page 2 of the flood map overlays. They are ALL in high risk flood areas. Them saying they didnt expect those building to flood just shows more incompetence and poor planning. One thing I’ve learned over the years is FEMA is pretty damn good at drawing their flood zone lines, they should have paid attention.
Certainly it sounds like an area people don’t want to build residential, and it disgusts me seeing a few of the projects I see actively being built in flood planes. It’s criminal corruption in my view to even allow it at this point. Brand new properties with 100% flood risk. The reality is for things like recreational parks and camping, they very well may be in flood prone areas. A lot of “parks” around the country exist because the land is unbuildable, so the “best use” is nature/recreation. Some National parks are huge and have inherently dangerous areas where you can be cut off from roads/paths in cases severe floods. That’s why we have park rangers and such, keeping people aware, closing sections of parks, etc! That it was a park/campground in a flood plane isn’t damning on its own imo. It’s how they handled the emergency.
Even better. “Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Saturday. “Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy more gains from our filthy cryptocurrency.” ^ (edited to improve accuracy.)
