Camp Mystic plans to reopen in Texas next summer, a year after floods killed 27
Camp Mystic plans to reopen next summer near the site where 27 girls and counselors died in a July flood.
The campers and counselors were swept to their deaths when fast-rising floodwaters of the Guadalupe River roared through the girls’ summer camp in a low-lying area known as flash flood alley. All told, the destructive flooding in Texas on the Fourth of July killed at least 136 people and washed away homes and vehicles.
In an email sent Monday to the families of the victims, the camp said when it reopens, its planning and procedures will follow the “requirements of the camp safety legislation you bravely championed.” About an hour later, the camp sent an email to the rest of the families announcing the decision.
The camp also announced that it will build a memorial to the girls who died in the flooding.
“In the memorial’s design, we will strive to capture the beauty, kindness and grace they all shared, while focusing on the joy they carried and will always inspire in us all,” the email said.
Camp Mystic parents successfully pushed for Texas to pass bills aimed at preventing similar tragedies. The measures aim to improve the safety of children’s camps by prohibiting cabins in dangerous parts of flood zones and requiring camp operators to develop detailed emergency plans, to train workers and to install and maintain emergency warning systems. One allocates $240 million from the state’s rainy day fund for disaster relief, along with money for warning sirens and improved weather forecasting.
“It will hurt my family forever that, for reasons I still do not know, these protections were not in place nor thought out thoroughly for my daughter and the rest of the girls here,” he said. “Please pass this bill, protect our kids and do not let their deaths be in vain.”
The announcement means that Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a sister site that opened to campers in 2020, will reopen next summer. But the 99-year-old Camp Mystic Guadalupe was too damaged to open next summer, according to the camp.
The email said leaders are “working with engineers and other experts to determine how we will implement the changes required” under the newly passed bills.
Shooting at ICE detention facility in Dallas kills 1, injures 2 others
Authorities are investigating a shooting Wednesday at an immigration detention facility in Dallas. The Department of Homeland Security says there is at least one fatality, and a suspect is died.
NPR’s middle school champion: A moving podcast about Japanese incarceration
For the first time, NPR's Student Podcast Challenge has a returning champion: a California fifth grader who explored a dark chapter in U.S. history during World War II.
Love pumpkin spice lattes? Learn some of its spicy history
For NPR's Word of the Week: Things are getting spicy. We explain how a word referring to cinnamon and pepper turned less literal by the 19th century.
New York City may move its mayoral elections to even years. It’d be part of a trend
This fall, New York City voters will weigh in on a proposal that could move future city elections to even-numbered years. It's part of a growing trend to consolidate election dates.
Typhoon Ragasa batters Hong Kong and southern China
Typhoon Ragasa whipped waves taller than lampposts onto Hong Kong promenades and turned seas rough on the southern Chinese coast after leaving deadly destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines.
‘We have to speak out,’ Jimmy Kimmel says in his late night return
The comedian was suspended for nearly a week by ABC's parent company, Disney, before returning to airwaves on Tuesday night.
