Families of victims who died at Camp Mystic during the Texas flood disaster spoke at a hearing advocating for stronger safety measures at youth camps.
They are urging Texas lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 1 to enhance preparedness and accountability for disaster procedures at youth camps, 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, affected families shared their experiences and supported the legislation, CBS News reported.
Cici Williams Steward’s 8-year-old daughter, Cile Steward, remains missing, according to the Tribune and ABC affiliate KVUE. Cici recounted that she had assured her daughter “that her safety and the safety of all the young girls was paramount” before sending her to Camp Mystic in Hunt, where 27 campers and counselors lost their lives.
“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.”
Carrie Hanna, whose daughter Hadley Hanna died in the flood, shared that she had promised her daughter she “would be safe and okay” at the camp.
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“I told her camp was the safest place she could be,” Carrie recalled, per KVUE. “I lied to her. She not only wasn’t safe, she died.”
The parents of Lila Bonner and Janie Hunt also testified. Blake Bonner, Lila’s father, said their daughters “paid the ultimate price for their obedience to a plan that was destined to fail.”
“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,” said Caitlin Bonner, calling her daughter “the most gentle little girl who fiercely loved her sister and all of her friends.”
Janie’s mother, Ann Lindsey Hunt, added, “Janie was the heartbeat of our family. She left for camp full of excitement and joy. She came home in a plywood box.”
If passed, Senate Bill 1 would prohibit youth camp cabins from being located in floodplains and allow camps to lose their license if they fail to comply. Camps would also be required to submit emergency plans for natural disasters to local emergency management coordinators and the State Health Department.
These plans must include procedures for identifying and locating campers during an emergency, and camps would have to conduct safety orientations at the start 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, chair of the Senate Select Committee, according to the Tribune.
Before the deadly flooding, the owner of Camp Mystic — who died attempting to save campers — had advocated for flood warning systems for the nearby Guadalupe River.
In 2011, the camp was listed in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “Special Flood Hazard Area” on its National Flood Insurance map for Kerr County. However, two years later, FEMA amended the map and removed 15 Camp Mystic buildings from the hazard area following an appeal from the camp.
