Texa’s inspectors just two days earlier in the emergency planning of Camp Mystic Catastrophic floods More than two dozen people in the Christian summer camp of all-girls, most children.
The Ministry of State Health Services published records on Tuesday that the camp has been complied with a large number of state regulations regarding “procedures that are to be implemented in the event of a catastrophe”. Among them: Apply the campers what to do if you have to evacuate every employee and consultant and assign certain tasks.
Five years of inspection reports published by the Associated Press do not provide any details of these plans at Mystic and raise new questions about the willingness of the camp before the maximum precipitation on July 4th in the flood -risk -endangered Texan Hill Country.
The National Weather Service had published a flood guard for the area on July 3 at 1:18 p.m. that the danger caused at least one of the approximately 18 camps along the Guadalupe river to bring dozens of campers to higher soil.
The uncertainty about what happened at Mystic repeated questions About who monitors the weather and what measures were taken before the floods.
The tragedy falls into the historical camp
Camp Mystic, which was founded in 1926, was not evacuated and was hit particularly hard when the river rose within 60 minutes in the early morning of 14 feet (4.2 meters) to 29.5 feet (9 meters). Floods on this section of the Guadalupe begins at 3 meters about 3 meters.
A water wall overwhelmed people in huts, tents and followers along the river. Some survivors were recorded on trees.
At least 27 campers and consultants died during the floods, and the officials said on Tuesday that five campers and one consultant have not yet been found. Among the dead was Richard “Dick” Eastland, the beloved director of the camp, which Campers described as a father figure.
Charlotte Lauten, 19, spent nine summer at Camp Mystic, recently recently in 2023. She said that she did not remember ever to ever get instructions as a motorhome, which is in the event of a competition.
“I know that the consultants do an orientation training for a week before the camp starts,” she said. “You will inform you about all these types of things.”
One thing that probably disabled the girl’s ability to escape was how dark it would have been, said Lauten. Camper has no access to her telephones in the camp, she said and added that because of the remote location, you would not have a mobile phone service anyway.
“This is in the middle of nowhere and they had no power,” she said. “It would have been pitch black as if it hadn’t been 5 feet in front of you darkness. I have never seen stars like there because there is only no light.”
Inspections found no problems
The state inspected Camp Mystic on July 2, on the same day when the Texas Department for Emergency Management activated the resources for the emergency reaction before the expected floods.
In a long list of health and security criteria, no defects or violations were found in the warehouse in the warehouse. At that time, the camp had between its locations Guadalupe and Cypress Lake 557 camper and more than 100 employees.
The disaster plans must be published in all Camp buildings, but not submitted to the state, said Lara Anton, spokeswoman for the Texas Ministry of Health.
“We don’t have it,” said Anton in an e -mail. “You would have to get it out of the warehouse.”
Camp Mystic did not answer his emergency plan when asked about comments. In an explanation on its website, the camp announced that it was “in communication with local and state authorities who tirelessly use extensive resources to look for our missing girls”.
Camps are responsible for the development of their own emergency plan. Inspectors rate the plans to ensure that they meet several state requirements, including the evacuation procedure.
“The inspector checked whether they had plans for these elements in every building,” said Anton, “and that they had trained employees and volunteers about what to do.”
Camp Mystic is licensed by the state and member of the Camping Association for Mutual Progress, which says that the goal is to “increase health and security standards for summer camps”. Managers of this association did not give back any news.
The American Camp Association said on Tuesday that Camp Mystic is not accredited with this organization, the standards of which are concentrating on security and risk management. Spokesman Lauren McMillin declined to say whether the camp had previously been accredited with the association, which described itself as “the only nationwide accreditation organization for the whole year and summer camps”.
Authorities check rain and river measuring devices
A rain knife of approx. 1.6 kilometers from Camp Mystic, which, according to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, was recorded by Guadalupe-Blanco River-authority of 9.5 inches (24 centimeters) of the Guadalupe-Blanco. Another of the agency’s measuring devices – further south and in the west – recorded 12.2 inch rainfall. The authority informed the AP that a review of the equipment was found, both of which worked during the flood event.
However, at least four United States Geological Survey Measure Tanks along the Guadalupe River experienced a certain degree of failure on July 4th.
The measuring devices near Hunt and Kerrville stopped collecting both the river level and the water flow rate in the early morning hours of July 4.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an advertisement, about 8 kilometers northeast of Camp Mystic, recorded a level of 9 meters at 4:35 a.m. It was the last recorded river level from the instrumentation until a USGS hydrologist installed a temporary display. At that time the hydrologist measured the flood mark at 11.44 meters 37.52 feet.
At this location, a river level of 9.75 meters could lead to “catastrophic life -threatening floods”, which, according to NOAA, could cover the streets of the lowest warehouses and resorts.
