Federal regulators approved appeals to remove buildings from the 100-year flood hazard map of Camp Mystic, reducing regulatory oversight in a high-risk floodplain in Texas before torrential waters struck the site, the Associated Press has reported.
In 2011, the Christian girls’ camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River, had been included in a “Special Flood Hazard Area” in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood map which included requiring flood insurance and stricter construction regulations.
But following appeals, FEMA changed the flood maps in 2013, 2019, and 2020 to exclude 30 buildings across the sites which were part of the camp hit by the flood that killed at 27 people including campers, counsellors and the camp owner, the AP reported.
FEMA told the AP that the flood maps were only snapshots that showed minimum standards for floodplain management and were not predictions of where it will flood.
Newsweek has contacted FEMA and Camp Mystic for comment by email.
Why It Matters
More than 130 people across mutiple counties have been confirmed dead in the flash floods that hit Texas on July 4 while Camp Mystic has confirmed that at least 27 girls and counsellors were among them.
The AP report raises questions over why a camp responsible for children’s safety received exemptions from flood regulations. Experts cited by the agency said that this would have lessened the oversight of the camp as it expanded in a hazardous floodplain.
What To Know
The AP report said that federal regulators had approved appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map in the years before this month’s flood.
The camp had been designated by FEMA as being in a “Special Flood Hazard Area” on its National Flood Insurance map for Kerr County in 2011.
This indicated a 1 percent chance of flooding, meant it needed flood insurance and faced stricter regulations on future building projects.
After an appeal, FEMA amended the county’s flood map in 2013 to remove 15 of the camp’s buildings from the hazard zone which were part of Camp Mystic Guadalupe, destroyed by last week’s flood, according to the AP.
FEMA also removed 15 more structures in 2019 and 2020 from the designation located on nearby Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a sister site which was also damaged in the floods, the agency added.
Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle, who reviewed the amendments for AP, said it was “a mystery” why proactive steps to move structures away from the risk were not taken.
Experts told the AP that Camp Mystic’s requests to amend the FEMA map could have been to avoid the requirement to carry flood insurance, lower insurance premiums or allow new structures under less costly regulations.
However, FEMA said in a statement that flood maps showed minimum standards for floodplain management and the highest risk areas for insurance but were not predictions of where it will flood, and do not show where it has flooded before.
Meanwhile, Chris Steubing, executive director of the Texas Floodplain Management Association, said it would be difficult to call the flood plain management a failure.
This was because the rain and flooding that hit Kerr County was a historic high and officials would have thought they were following existing regulations but “then Mother Nature set a new standard.”
What People Are Saying
Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle to the AP: “It’s a mystery to me why they weren’t taking proactive steps to move structures away from the risk.”
FEMA in a statement said that the flood maps: “Are not predictions of where it will flood, and they don’t show where it has flooded before.”
Chris Steubing, executive director of the Texas Floodplain Management Association: “You could have built things two feet higher, three feet higher, and they still might have gotten taken down.”
What Happens Next
As Texas officials face questions over emergency flood alerts, some grieving parents have launched charities and memorial funds in honor of their daughters, with donors so far contributing a total of $1 million, according to reports.
Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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