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.
The kids, I understand, but I think the counselors should have been allowed to keep their phones, at least after hours.
Yeah, the local government officials that debated a flood warning system for over a decade because they didn’t want to pay the $1 million themselves, then were given $10 million in pandemic funds and re-directed most of it to the sheriff’s department, and a footpath.
The more I hear, the sicker - and angrier! - I feel.
This is pretty common at summer camps with cell phones, there are many reasonst. It’s also common however to have people in place who are trained and will respond to such incidents regardless of camp size, location or time of day.
You forgot to say that they spent the 10 million out of spite saying that spending it on an early warning system was woke and the money was communist money from Biden. Big MAGA brains in that county.
Saw an article the other day about how Texas is the most disaster prone state, while simultaneously being the most against any sort of disaster preparedness.
Dumbfucks.
I’d say the big three are California (fire, potential earthquakes), Florida (hurricanes with tidal surge), and Texas. But as you say, Texas is the one that refuses to do anything to mitigate their risks, even those of their own making - and it does seem that so many of the disasters Texas has are massively exacerbated by their refusal to mitigate risks.
A friend of mine suggested that Texas’ nickname should be “The One Star State”.
Florida actually handles hurricanes fairly well. At least they did when I left over a decade ago. They took home construction fairly seriously, ugly, but sturdy when it came to high winds.
Just looked it up. 3rd is Oklahoma, 2nd California, and 1st is Texas
My first thought was Oklahoma or Kansas because both are in one of the “Tornado Allies”.
Fun fact. There’s a new tornado alley running from southern Missisippi to Northern Florida. I’m sure it has nothing to do with climate change
Actually they’re at war with tornadoes