Camp Mystic leader, who died trying to save small children, waited over an hour after alert before starting evacuation
The adult leader of Camp Mystic, the Texas summer camp where 27 children and counselors died in the Hill Country floods, waited more than an hour after receiving a severe flood warning before initiating an evacuation, it was disclosed on Monday.
Richard “Dick” Eastland, who had run the popular all-girls, Christian-values sleepaway camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River with his family since the 1980s, was among the fatalities after a wall of water rushed through the camp early on 4 July.
A spokesperson for the Eastland family told the Washington Post that a National Weather Service (NWS) alert was sent to his phone at 1.14am warning of “life threatening flash flooding”, and only at 2.30am, with heavy rain still falling and the river level rising fast, he made the decision to begin evacuations.
I get severe flood warnings all the time. Every spring and summer. I’ve lived through one actual flood where the water came in our house. It’s insanely difficult to decide when to evacuate. One hour after a warning is not unheard of.
Now if they were standing around in knee high water then it’s different but something tells me that this flash flood hit so fast that it hit them by surprise. It’s easy sit here on our keyboards and virtue signal with our dry clothes and no immediate danger
Ignoring the warnings when they say “extreme danger to life” for the river you’re in when your buildings and the kids you’re responsible for are in the damn river’s floodplain does not “make it difficult to decide”.
I’m not virtue signaling. I’m mad as fucking hell. Because I know there are actions that could (and damn well should) have been taken to protect those kids and counselors, and the rot began at the top.
Yeah, I get severe weather warnings all the time. Usually for hail or damaging winds, but also occasional tornadoes. But I have only ever seen a few tornadoes actually touch down, and it has always been dozens of miles away. Even the hail warnings are usually overblown. Warning about baseball sized hail, then we only get some wind and a light sprinkle.
I’m gonna guess what state you live in by this commemt… either Kansas or Missouri hmmm kansas??
Same. Lots of flash flood warning during normal summers. I keep my eyes open to see if I need to change my usual routine. Usually not .