Girls evacuating during at the beginning of the flood from  cabins to the Rec Hall.  Some sad news out of Texas: Camp Mystic, the Christian girls camp along the Guadalupe River in Texas since 1926, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . That means they are going to ask a court to deal with their debts with hope of reopening at some point.  Of course, Mystic was the camp where 28 girls and adults perished during the extreme flash flood the morning of July 4, 2025. The State of Texas has found the planning for flash floods, especially since the camp was right next to a river known for flooding, was wholly inadequate. The report of the Texas Senate was released yesterday and it is here . Given the nature of Chapter 11, it is likely the owners of the camp will lose their equity and the camp may be sold to others. Whether anyone will come forward is unknown.  While the owners of the camp deserve a great deal of criticism for the lack of meteorological preparedness (based o...

Unsurprising. Just wanted to follow up now that it is official.  Above is from the San Antonio  Express-News. 

October 1 Update KHOU TV in Houston obtained the flood procedures from Camp Mystic plus those of a nearby camp for comparison. You will find their story and the documents here .  KHOU puts emphasis on the length of the documents. Without judging the documents themselves (I have never been to the camp sites, so I am not able to judge) more is not necessarily better. Asking teenage counselors and 8-yr old campers to memorize 30 pages of emergency instructions might be a stretch. Do the camps do drills, especially for counselors? Drills are an extremely important aspect of emergency preparedness.  Finally, for anyone in the rural camp industry who may be reading this: there were many news reports of inconsistent cell phone reception in Texas' Guadalupe River area. If true, I'm a huge fan on satellite phones. They are inexpensive and worth their weight in gold in an emergency.  September 25 Update Comprehensive story from CNN . This blog post covers the situation involving Ca...