Somebody (not on DU), said it was an all- girls camp.

Why there wasn’t an old fashioned siren system installed as a fallback when the $975,000 grant was denied?
Instead of a loud siren, you had 9 or 10 year old boys crossing flood waters to go from one cabin to another to warn another cabin??

As a Girl Scout 150 years ago (haha) I was taught emergency procedures and briefed upon arrival at camp with things like “if you hear the siren, everyone is to immediately meet at…”. I can’t speak for the boys, but the girls would have followed instructions.

Regardless of the $975,000 grant denial (for which I blame the Trump 1 administration) and the absence of an Weather Coordinator (for which I blame the Trump 2 administration), a more primitive but loud siren system could have been pursued as a Plan B.

Ask a class of Texas A&M engineering undergrads to design inexpensive systems, downselect and prototype, and choose the best system among them. “System” can be a combination of equipment and procedures, but it should be resilient, redundant, and decentralized.
Resilient, redundant, decentralized solutions are part of the answer to climate change survival.

Volunteer with Boy scout camps (now BSA) and church camps. We put on sirens and made certain that we had proper shelters within a reasonable distance from everywhere on camp (goal is five minute run).

Was told flat out if the safety measures weren't put in place we couldn't get liability insurance.

it's always about money. If it's about safety, people shrug. If it's about money it's, OMG! I'm not saying that's the case in the example you're giving, but in general it's only money and corporate loss that mean anything.

Because in the end, they are going to pay via loss of public trust/business and higher insurance rates going forward.

That said, to me it's similar to how a company like Target got hacked because they didn't properly segment their networks so the same login for an HVAC system also gave access to their point of sale systems and they lost 40 million customer financial information. Target paid 18.5 million to settle with 47 states and DC for not doing basic network security work, maybe because it would have taken time/money, maybe because the executives didn't see the value. I'm sure their IT security team understood because I did and I'm not in the IT security world. Until companies have to start paying substantial fines and c suite executives start going to jail, it's just the cost of business. Many of those people might have been saved, but because it's unlikely to result in real cost to the people who made the decision, it wasn't a priority.

You get the behavior that you reward. If you reward short term profits over long term risk and security, then the decisions will be made accordingly and you skip basic IT security or anything that has short term cost with no short term return.

Camp Mystic has been described as a girls only camp. Doesn't change the horror though.

I I wish that was true for all children in war torn countries.

for a while. To go through a frightening experience and then not know if you will see your parents again - well that is the situation a lot of children in this country and others are in.

Initially 24 missing now it's more than a hundred missing.

I understand confusion in early days but underreported by 6x? Seems excessive or incompetent.

They focused on Camp Mystic at first, but I think there are lots of other camps, camping areas, motor homes, and summer homes in the area. I don't think they count someone as missing until they are reported missing. If a whole family goes missing, the reporting might not happen right away.

Undercounting to move it out of the news cycle. Minimize the tragedy.

Although your explanation is sensible. A large area with poor communication or coordination.

Trespassing? Not if it's posted, is the reasoning. (And it's not posted if you don't see the signs.)

Cabins for rent, air bnbs in apts. or houses, who knows who was in them or even if they were occupied?

It's a really popular area. Esp. on a weekend. Esp. on the 4th of July weekend. Heck, the Hill Country in general is a good getaway for lots of people I know--not too expensive, no airplane, don't always need to rent a hotel room or dine out. Camp stove, tent, sleeping bag.

Thought the number of missing would soar. You say you're going with your family camping in the Hill Country, you might not say where. Then, after the flood you don't answer your phone ... Well, okay. Bad reception, no charge, you don't want to take it. But 3, 4 days later ... You report them missing. And the number grows.

Its the kind of place you go to "get away from it all". But if nobody knows where you went, it might be a while before you are reported. They did say they had one unidentified body, and there may be more.

started with a "quote" from the MIA gone-again cruz, pretending to care.