Camp Mystic safety plans signed just days before deadly floods
Five girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic as of Tuesday night. Newly released records show that Texas inspectors signed off on Camp Mystic's emergency planning just two days before the camp was swept by raging floodwaters.
The Department of State Health Services released records on Tuesday showing that the camp complied with a host of state regulations regarding 'procedures to be implemented in case of a disaster.' But some staffers alleged details of the plan had not been communicated and that they were woefully unprepared when disaster struck.
The inspection found no deficiencies or violations in a comprehensive list of health and safety criteria at the camp. The records come as one Camp Mystic counselor shared they did not have communication devices during the flood.
One counselor told CNN that while the owners and few leaders had walkie talkes, most of them did not. She also indicated that they had not received evacuation training. Earlier this week, counselor Caroline Cutrona (pictured) explained to the outlet that Camp Mystic has a no-screen policy, and staff members are required to turn off their phones while working.
She said that because of this policy, she did not receive the weather emergency alerts sent out. 'As camp counselors, we turn in our phone when we don't have our time off. So, there was no alert or anything that I heard. No signal to know that anything was happening,' Cutrona said.
'We have just an overall loudspeaker... But, the power went out at about 4am at Camp Mystic. 'Once that power went out, I knew in my head, "Oh, we're not going to have reveille, which is what we wake up to." No announcements could have been made.'
The camp's father-figure and owner, Richard 'Dick' Eastland, 70, died while trying to save the young girls. A heartbreaking photo showed an entire cabin of Camp Mystic girls and counselors who were washed away in the horrific Texas floods.
The 13 girls and two counselors were staying in Camp Mystic's Bubble Inn cabin, which, alongside the Twins cabin, housed the youngest of the girls, aged 8 to 10. The cabins were less than 500 feet from the river and thus took in water from two directions: the Guadalupe River and a nearby creek, making the girls' escape particularly challenging.
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