Camp Mystic

[Anonymous]

I have found myself overwhelmed with the news from Camp Mystic and the entire flooding situation.

I am not religious or from Texas but am just besides myself thinking about the fear those little girls felt waking up to a nightmare and being without their parents and the loss their parents will feel forever.

I don’t really pray but I just want to ask that everyone keep these children, their families, and all the people lost in the flood in their hearts. Hug your family a little tighter today.

[Anonymous]

There was already a locked thread on this that is now being diverted to political. So don’t be shocked if this is locked too.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/1281918.page

[Anonymous]

I lived in Texas for a while and was a camp counselor at a different camp in my 20s. I have been obsessing a bit, too, but I know it's unhealthy and a reflection of my own anxieties as a former counselor and a current mom of a young girl. I think it's natural (I hope?) to fixate on something that could easily happen to your own family or child and get a little stuck. But also best to air it out anonymously versus saying anything out loud in real life. I love Hill Country and summer camp but I'm having a hard time thinking about ever enjoying either again.

I think the other thread devolved because we are all trying to find a reason for this. With things like school shootings, there's a clear bad guy. This is really different and it's hard to believe that awful things can just suddenly happen. But they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was already a locked thread on this that is now being diverted to political. So don’t be shocked if this is locked too.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/1281918.page

OP here -

Was trying to make this one non-political. Hopefully people can stay respectful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was already a locked thread on this that is now being diverted to political. So don’t be shocked if this is locked too.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/1281918.page

OP here -

Was trying to make this one non-political. Hopefully people can stay respectful

The original one (that was locked) wasn’t originally political either.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully they'll be able to find and identify the missing girls soon. The waiting is torture for these families.

[Anonymous]

This story is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. But please also remember the other flood victims, including children, who were not at the camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This story is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. But please also remember the other flood victims, including children, who were not at the camp.

+1. And at this point anyone still waiting for information is aware of what the likely result will be. Tragedy all around. And more than a few missteps at the state, local, and community level. This will be a cautionary tale going forward.

[Anonymous]

It's affecting me more than I thought it would. My 9 year old daughter got home from 3 weeks at camp this weekend and I cried myself to sleep last night thinking about if she was one of the girls at Mystic.

It doesn't change my mind about sending her to camp -- there's so much good that comes from it to forgo it for a statistically rare event (just like I keep sending my kid to school despite the very statistically rare event of school shootings) but its just so so awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's affecting me more than I thought it would. My 9 year old daughter got home from 3 weeks at camp this weekend and I cried myself to sleep last night thinking about if she was one of the girls at Mystic.

It doesn't change my mind about sending her to camp -- there's so much good that comes from it to forgo it for a statistically rare event (just like I keep sending my kid to school despite the very statistically rare event of school shootings) but its just so so awful.

I hope this is hyperbole. If not, it’s not a normal reaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This story is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. But please also remember the other flood victims, including children, who were not at the camp.

Yes but…this thread is about the camp. Anything awful can happen to people at any time. But I am particularly upset about thinking about these little girls who were entrusted to a camp that did not keep them safe. this camp had been on this river for 100 years, and a bunch of campers from another local camp there drowned in the 80s! It’s not just a stroke of bad luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This story is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. But please also remember the other flood victims, including children, who were not at the camp.

Yes but…this thread is about the camp. Anything awful can happen to people at any time. But I am particularly upset about thinking about these little girls who were entrusted to a camp that did not keep them safe. this camp had been on this river for 100 years, and a bunch of campers from another local camp there drowned in the 80s! It’s not just a stroke of bad luck.

The campers killed in the 1987 flood were in a bus at the end of a caravan of busses that were evacuating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found myself overwhelmed with the news from Camp Mystic and the entire flooding situation.

I am not religious or from Texas but am just besides myself thinking about the fear those little girls felt waking up to a nightmare and being without their parents and the loss their parents will feel forever.

I don’t really pray but I just want to ask that everyone keep these children, their families, and all the people lost in the flood in their hearts. Hug your family a little tighter today.

heartbreaking.
hoping for miracles that maybe some are alive but further away from that site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Texas for a while and was a camp counselor at a different camp in my 20s. I have been obsessing a bit, too, but I know it's unhealthy and a reflection of my own anxieties as a former counselor and a current mom of a young girl. I think it's natural (I hope?) to fixate on something that could easily happen to your own family or child and get a little stuck. But also best to air it out anonymously versus saying anything out loud in real life. I love Hill Country and summer camp but I'm having a hard time thinking about ever enjoying either again.

I think the other thread devolved because we are all trying to find a reason for this. With things like school shootings, there's a clear bad guy. This is really different and it's hard to believe that awful things can just suddenly happen. But they do.

The responsibilities aren't as clear cut as in a school shooting, but some institutions do bear partial responsibility. The camp, for putting cabins too close to the river; the county, for not pushing for more funds for their warning system; and the state, for not doing more to fund warning systems. This fast-moving and powerful flood would probably have overwhelmed communities along the river anyway, even with everything in place, because the dwellings are spread out, cell service is spotty and sirens can't be heard everywhere, especially in the middle of the night. But there would probably have been fewer casualties if state-of-the-art systems had functioned appropriately.

It's a tragedy all around, and my heart goes out to all the victims, particularly the children and their parents.

[Anonymous]

It’s quite shocking, looking at how close and flat to the river those cabins were, that no one at the camp or local authorities ever envisioned this might happen. Would require a stunning lack of imagination on all parts.