Camp Mystic — where 27 young campers and staffers were killed in raging Texas floods — will reopen at a nearby site next summer with new safety protocols amid pushback from disheartened parents.
In an email sent to the families of the victims on Monday, the Christian summer camp announced it plans to follow “requirements of the camp safety legislation you bravely championed,” upon reopening.
About an hour later, the camp sent an email to the rest of the families announcing its decision to reopen.
“We are not only rebuilding cabins and trails, but also a place where laughter, friendship, and spiritual growth will continue to flourish,” the email to past campers obtained by the New York Times read.
“We look forward to welcoming you back inside the green gates,” the camp wrote.
Camp Mystic will also erect a memorial for the young campers and staffers killed when fast-rising floodwaters from the Guadalupe River inundated the camp in Kerrville on the Fourth of July, organizers added.
“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.
The camp will reopen with guidance from the new “Heaven’s 27 Safety Act,” legislation Camp Mystic parents helped pass during the second Texas Special Session of the legislature.
The new bills will promote the safety of children’s camps by prohibiting cabins from being built in dangerous flood zones and requiring camp operators to develop stringent emergency plans.
One bill allocates $240 million from the state’s rainy day fund for disaster relief, along with money for warning sirens and improved weather forecasting
The announcement means that Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a sister site that opened to campers in 2020, will reopen next summer. The 99-year-old Camp Mystic Guadalupe, however, is still too damaged to open its doors next summer.
Camp leaders are “working with engineers and other experts to determine how we will implement the changes required” under the newly passed bills, the email said.
Survivors have described hearing the terrifying screams of their fellow campers in the dark as they were swept up in the devastating floodwaters.
Many of the 650 campers and staffers were asleep when, at 1:14 a.m., a flash-flood warning for the county with “catastrophic” potential for loss of life was issued by the National Weather Service.
The flooding struck the camp around 3 a.m., according to the Wall Street Journal.
Counselors tried to prevent panic, and barefoot campers were forced to climb through a window and up a rocky hill in the dark amid the chaos.
At least 27 campers and staffers were swept away to their deaths.
One camper, Cile Steward, 8, was never found, according to the New York Times.
The decision to reopen prompted shock and anger from some Camp Mystic parents, who expressed frustration with the camp for keeping its plans under tight wraps.
“The families of deceased Camp Mystic campers and counselors were not consulted about and did not approve this memorial,” Blake Bonner, the father of Lila Bonner, 9, who was killed in the flood, said in a statement to the outlet on behalf of the families.
Cici Steward, the mother of still-missing Cile Stweard, declared, “The truth is, Camp Mystic failed our daughters,” in a blistering statement to the outlet.
“Recovery teams are still out there, scouring the river, risking and sacrificing so much to find her so we can finally lay her to rest. For their efforts, we are eternally grateful,” she wrote.
“Camp Mystic, however, has only added to our grief.”
With Post wires
The post Camp Mystic plans to reopen with new safety protocols after Texas flood killed 27 young campers, staffers appeared first on New York Post.
