‘Nowhere to Go But Up’, Texas Lawmakers Advance Sweeping Camp Safety Reforms
In the predawn hours of July 4, 2025, a catastrophic flash flood along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country swept through Camp Mystic, killing 27 children and two counselors—27 of the at least 137 people who died in what has become the deadliest inland flood in the United States in nearly 50 years. The tragedy, concentrated in three riverside cabins, has shattered families, exposed systemic failures in camp safety and county emergency response, and now drives the most comprehensive overhaul of youth camp regulations in Texas history.
On Wednesday, August 20, 2025, grieving parents filled the Texas State Capitol to tell lawmakers exactly how Camp Mystic’s emergency plan failed their daughters—and to demand that no other family endure their agony. Their wrenching testimony prompted the Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding to advance Senate Bill 1 unanimously, renamed the “Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act” in honor of the Mystic victims, to the whole Senate floor with a pledge: “You have a flash flood warning or a flood warning, you will be required to remove these kids from those cabins,” said state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, the committee’s chair.
Sen. Perry, visibly moved, told parents, “Had the requirements of SB 1 been in place on the night of July 4, I have no doubt that some lives, if not all lives, would have been saved”.
‘She Needed to Hear the Unbearable Truth From Us’
The parents’ testimony was unsparing. Cici Williams Steward, whose 8-year-old daughter, Cile, is the only Camp Mystic victim whose body has not yet been recovered, recalled the moment she had to tell her younger daughter that her sister was dead, but would not be coming home. “We wait, trapped in agony, until she is brought home,” Steward said. “She needed to hear the unbearable truth from us that Cile’s body has not been found”.
Michael McCown, father of 8-year-old Linnie McCown, described standing near the wreckage of Bubble Inn, a riverside cabin, the morning after the flood. “I still remember standing near Bubble Inn the morning of July 5, amidst the wreckage of camp, looking at the cabins, and asking myself, ‘How? Why? How could these girls vanish into the night without anyone having eyes on them, while cabins just 20 yards away had no casualties? What went wrong?’” McCown said.
Carrie and Doug Hanna, whose daughter Hadley died at camp and whose older daughter Harper survived, recounted the horror of identifying their child’s body by her green and yellow nail polish. “Lying in a makeshift morgue cannot have looked more different than our beautiful girl—a sight I can’t get out of my head,” Carrie Hanna said.
‘Obvious, Common Sense Safety Measures Were Absent’
The parents’ testimony underscored a central theme: The deaths at Camp Mystic were not the result of an unpredictable act of nature, but of preventable failures—in emergency planning, in evacuation protocols, and in oversight.
Camp Mystic had passed its last state inspection just two days before the flood. Its cabins in “The Flats”—Bubble Inn and Twins I & II—were closest to the river, directly in the flood’s path. According to the camp’s staff training manual, reviewed by the family of a counselor who died, campers in The Flats were instructed to “stay in their cabins unless told otherwise by the office. All cabins are constructed on high, safe locations.” Counselors for the youngest campers, many of whom were first- and second-graders, followed those instructions, with fatal consequences.
“Joy and growth cannot exist without safety,” Steward told lawmakers. Cile’s chance to experience camp only existed because I was assured that her safety and the safety of all the young girls were paramount. I ask you, what could have been more important than that? But that assurance was betrayed because obvious common-sense safety measures were absent, and protocols that should have been in place were ignored. As a result, my daughter was stolen from me, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures on just her fifth day of camp”.
Emergency Officials Asleep at the Switch
A separate state hearing in Kerrville last month revealed that Kerr County’s top emergency officials were asleep when the disaster unfolded. The county’s emergency management coordinator, William “Dub” Thomas, testified that he was sleeping at home, missing two critical state emergency calls, and was not awakened until 5:30 a.m. on July 4. By that time, Camp Mystic and other communities were already underwater.
Sheriff Larry Leitha was also asleep when his deputies began receiving emergency calls between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., after the National Weather Service had issued flash flood warnings. County Judge Rob Kelly, the head of emergency management, was 100 miles away at a house on Lake Travis near Austin.
No Code Red alert was sent to county residents until 5:07 a.m.—45 minutes after a volunteer fire chief requested it. The delay proved fatal for many who could have evacuated earlier.
‘Complacency and Human Nature’
At Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Perry placed partial blame on the camp for not doing more to prepare. “One of the biggest contributors to what we found out, and it could have been any camp, I promise you it could have been any camp, was complacency and human nature, and out of sight, out of mind,” he said. “Had the requirements of SB 1 been in place on the night of July 4, I do not doubt that some lives, if not all lives, would have been saved on the camp front”.
What Senate Bill 1 Would Change
Senate Bill 1, crafted with direct input from grieving families, marks the most significant reform of youth camp safety regulations in Texas history. Its provisions include:
Immediate evacuation: Camps must evacuate children to higher ground as soon as a flash flood or flood warning is issued for the area.
No new cabins in floodplains: Youth camps will no longer be allowed to operate cabins in 100-year floodplains; existing cabins in floodplains must be equipped with emergency rooftop ladders.
Emergency plans on file: All camps must file comprehensive emergency plans—including evacuation procedures for floods, fires, tornadoes, and other disasters—with the state and provide them to parents upon request. The plans must be accessible to first responders and local emergency coordinators.
Staff training and drills: All staff must receive annual emergency training; camps must conduct evacuation drills with campers at the start of each session.
Weather alert radios and redundant communications: Each cabin must have a weather alert radio; camps must maintain at least two internet connections for redundancy during emergencies.
Parental notification: Parents must be notified if their child’s cabin is in a floodplain.
Database of camp plans: The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) must create and maintain a searchable database of all camp emergency plans, accessible to parents and emergency officials.
Increased oversight: DSHS will have expanded authority to inspect and license camps, with stricter penalties for noncompliance.
According to the Legislative Budget Board, implementing the new database and oversight requirements will cost Texas taxpayers $264,963 in fiscal year 2026 and $11,916 annually thereafter.
Broader Reforms and Federal Response
The Camp Mystic tragedy has also prompted broader reforms. Governor Greg Abbott called a 30-day special legislative session to address disaster preparedness, early warning systems, and recovery funding. The session, which began on July 21, 2025, has seen bipartisan calls for action, though partisan clashes over redistricting and other issues have also marked it.
At the federal level, Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, introduced the Texas Flood Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2025, which would provide $15 billion in emergency funding for disaster relief and recovery efforts stemming from the July floods. The bill is currently under committee review.
Community and Interfaith Solidarity
The tragedy has also drawn an outpouring of support from across Texas and beyond. The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) issued a public statement of condolence, calling for unity and support among all communities of faith. “As Muslims, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our Christian brothers and sisters, united in grief and prayer,” the group said.
‘We Will Never Unhear the Stories’
As the hearing concluded, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, her face visibly marked by tears, told the parents, “I can’t unhear their stories and that’s a good thing. We will never unhear the stories and we will make changes”.
Senate Bill 1 is expected to pass the full Senate and House quickly, with all provisions to take effect before the 2026 summer camp season. While the legislation cannot bring back the children lost at Camp Mystic, it represents a solemn pledge from Texas lawmakers to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.