That’s a reasonable take; anything that can help should be done.
I don’t know how much warning is needed in that area or how quickly the water
can rise once alarms are initiated.
That river reached catastrophic levels in less than an hour overnight with little warning, rising 26 feet in just 45 minutes. Fast-moving flood waters swept homes and cars away, and for Camp Mystic, made it difficult for staff to move hundreds of girls to safer ground in the dark.
The youngest girls at Camp Mystic in Texas were asleep in cabins as little as 225 feet from the river when flash flooding suddenly surged — causing the water to rise 20 feet above flood stage in just 90 minutes, starting around 4 a.m. on July 4.
This owner was responsible, he’d been there 30 years and didn’t see it coming. He gave his life for the girls.
The camp was there 100 years. I’m not sure anyone could have accurately predicted it the way it unfolded.
Yeah, but he was reacting to the problem too late, and he didn’t do what he could have done when they were warned before the waters rose to the point where they were floating on mattresses.
I’m not saying he was a bad guy or didn’t care, but there were steps that should have been taken earlier. They didn’t take action then because they assumed it would be like other floods.
If I’m in charge of 700 kids sleeping along the Guadalupe River in that part of the state, I’m waking them up and moving to a 100% safe spot the moment I get a flood warning. They have buildings on the property that were above the floodwaters, but they didn’t get to them.
I don’t think an “accurate prediction” should be required to prompt someone to take action. But every one of these places built along the river is obviously at risk of flooding - those river valleys exist for a reason. I’ve driven that road many times and thought about the amazing power of water that carved out the valley.
Some of the buildings where people were trapped when the water was rising were built at what is the intersection of two creeks and the river. It’s beautiful, but you have to respect the surroundings if you’re going to be in that spot.
Along the Guadalupe below the dam (where they had some flooding yesterday from a local deluge), they have sirens along the river to alert people when there’s trouble. I don’t know who/what activates them, but that kind of warning system would make a difference.
I remember that Seagoville bus tragedy pretty vividly. It was horrific.
In fairness, that bus tragedy was more because of a mechanical failure than being slow to act. I think I’ve read that Kendall County made sure to add river gauges to provide earlier warnings after that flood.
Passing this wouldn’t have made a difference in this flood, but reading stuff like “it’s unlikely a warning system would have had much effect” from a guy who voted it down makes my blood boil. The truth is he has no idea, and what’s certain is that having no warning system clearly had an effect. I’m not arguing that this specific bill was a good one or should have been passed, but don’t rationalize the vote with “it wouldn’t have mattered anyway” - that’s garbage.
It is a tragedy of horrific proportions. This tragedy can only remind everyone how much our loved ones are precious. Families can have ups and downs, same with friends, a “Love you” goes a long, long way. We shall never forget it or take it for granted.
Think of all of the tornados and the most advanced warning systems. Despite all of it many perish every year.
Buildings next to a river prone to flooding is what needs to be looked at. That is the only thing we can take away from it.
Prayers to all.
I hope they take more away from it than that. There are always things that can be done better in these situations. That doesn’t mean it’s anyone’s fault but they need to do a deep dive into everything.
I hope it causes more than just that area to consider it too. You probably can’t stop a tragedy like this but you may be able to limit it in some way.
One measure is to take alerts about flash flooding seriously. I take them seriously in Houston after all we’ve been thru here. Next time a camp director or whoever needs to figure out an escape plan of at least getting to higher ground even if it’s making some marked paths to walk and climb up hills. Even if the structures were built up another 10 feet they would have been swept away so also building permits along rivers need to be addressed but mankind likes water views historically but it has to change. People need to also cancel trips if need be which is the tough call. Like said it was a month long camp where people paid in advanced with set schedules. They should now build houses or camp grounds way up high then people simply walk down and view the water etc. Side note, there are many in Galveston that are selling bc of high insurance and risks. Unfortunately living near the gulf and rivers isn’t a good option anymore. There is always warning fatigue where numerous flash flood warnings never play out and it’s a good day. Going forward we all need to take the warnings seriously going forward. It’s prob what happened here. There were messages sent out 7pm that day or days before but fatigue sets it and we think it will pass and be ok.
I just learned that a prominent defense attorney that often appears in our court in Washington County had a granddaughter at that camp that is still unaccounted for.
The population of Texas has also increased since 1987, and it was a long holiday weekend. It was just the perfect storm really. An act of God type thing? Like when there’s a flight cancelation because of weather?
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(DustinK - Still 50 hostages held by Hamas for over 630 days)
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Mitigations and safety prevention measures have been put in place for thousands of years due to a tragic events. This is par for the course since the beginning of human existence.
We’ve learned a lot over thousands of years and are able to design and build things to prepare for the worst but there are millions of places, structures, and communities grandfathered into areas spread throughout this planet that do not have prevention measures in place.
I’m sick to my stomach seeing this coverage. It absolutely breaks my heart because it could have been one of my girls. I’m not virtue signaling. It just hits close to home because my older one attends summer camps near a body of water and the other one will follow in her footsteps in a couple years.
We as a society (definitely triggered by polarizing politics and social media platforms) need to stop pointing fingers the minute this stuff happens and focus our efforts on the day at hand. Start asking yourself these simple 2 questions:
What can I do to help?
What can I do to prevent making the situation worse?
Hndsight usually tells us the same thing. Don’t be cheap and put off spending the money.
With American infrastructure, this is something we need to be honest about. Don’t put off the problem until tragedy happens and then our politicians act like they can only offer thoughts and prayers.
