Camp Mystic relied on teen counselors with no emergency training before flood, investigator says

Young and inexperienced Camp Mystic counselors were not trained to help campers during floods or other emergencies, and feared making decisions on their own, an investigator into the flood that killed 27 counselors and campers told Texas lawmakers Monday.

AUSTIN, Texas — Young and inexperienced Camp Mystic counselors were not trained to help campers during floods or other emergencies, and feared making decisions on their own, an investigator into the flood that killed 27 counselors and campers told Texas lawmakers Monday.

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Lawmakers heard an emotional and sweeping review of a camp “obedience” culture that paired poorly trained teenage counselors with the youngest campers; was complacent about flood warnings; had poor communications; and critically delayed evacuation efforts.

“There was never any real training, no drills of any kind,” for counselors or campers of what do to or where to go in a flood threat, said Casey Garrett, a special legislative committee’s investigator. She was addressing the committee’s first hearing on the July Fourth flood that swept through the all-girls Christian camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.