- Families of flood victims killed at Camp Mystic testified at a Texas senate hearing for a new bill aimed at improving safety and preparedness at camps in the state following the July flood disaster
- Parents of the girls killed in the flood pleaded with lawmakers to enact the new regulations to ensure the safety and protection of kids at camps moving forward
- “Obvious common sense safety measures were absent, protocols that should have been in place were ignored,” said Cici Williams Steward, mother of missing 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward
Families of the victims killed at Camp Mystic during the Texas flood disaster spoke out at a hearing for a bill to improve safety at youth camps.
The families are urging Texas lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 1, which would help improve preparedness and accountability surrounding disaster procedures at youth camps in the state, according to NBC affiliate KXAS-TV and The Texas Tribune.
At a meeting of the Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding on Wednesday, Aug. 20, families who were impacted by the flood spoke in favor of the bill, CBS News reported.
Cici Williams Steward’s 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward still has not been found, according to the Tribune and ABC affiliate KVUE. The mom said she had assured her child “that her safety and the safety of all the young girls was paramount” before sending her off to Camp Mystic in Hunt, where 27 campers and counselors died in the flood.
“Obvious common sense safety measures were absent, protocols that should have been in place were ignored,” Cici testified. “As a result, my daughter was stolen from me, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures on just her fifth day of camp.”
“I naively assumed she was safer at camp than anywhere else,” Blake said, according to KXAS-TV. “When I think about the trauma and fear our girls endured, it makes me physically ill. This loss is one no parent should have to endure.”
“Lila was special. She was beautiful. She was pure. She was so kind,” Lila’s mother Caitlin Bonner said at the hearing, calling her daughter “the most gentle little girl who fiercely loved her sister and all of her friends.”
Janie’s mother Ann Lindsey Hunt said, “Janie was the heartbeat of our family. She left for camp full of excitement and joy. She came home in a plywood box.”
Under Senate Bill 1, youth camp cabins would not be allowed to be located in floodplains, and camps could lose their license to operate if they don’t comply, according to KVUE.
All camps would also reportedly be required to have an emergency plan for natural disasters, which camp leaders would have to submit to local emergency management coordinators and the State Health Department.
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These plans would be required to have procedures for identifying and finding campers during an emergency, and camps would have to hold safety orientations at the beginning of each session.
“Had the requirements of SB 1 been in place on the night of July 4, I have no doubt that some lives, if not all lives, would have been saved,” said Senator Charles Perry of Lubbock, who chairs the Senate Select Committee, according to the Tribune.
Before the deadly flooding disaster, the owner of Camp Mystic — who died trying to save the lives of his campers — pushed for flood warning systems for the Guadalupe River, which is located close to the camp grounds.
In 2011, the camp was included in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “Special Flood Hazard Area” for its National Flood Insurance map for Kerr County. But just two years later, FEMA amended the map and removed 15 buildings owned by Camp Mystic camp from the hazard area after an appeal from the camp.
