Tearful parents of Camp Mystic flooding victims plead for tougher safety measures

Between tears and anger, mothers and fathers of children who died at Camp Mystic in central Texas in a flood on July 4 pleaded with state lawmakers Wednesday to toughen safety at summer camps.

One by one, the parents proudly described their young children’s personalities, quirks and achievements before they shared their nightmare of grief, guilt and loss through tears and sobs. But they also admonished lawmakers to approve a series of reforms that could prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

Their heartbreaking testimony in the bicameral committee hearing also led some senators to cry.

Among the parents who testified were the mother and father of Cile Steward, the only girl still missing out of 27 children and counselors who died at the girls’ camp when the Guadalupe River overflowed several feet in a matter of hours, sweeping through wooded summer camps, homes and businesses.

A total of 120 people were killed in Kerr County, including those from Camp Mystic.

Cile’s mother, CiCi Williams Steward, told the lawmakers she had been assured that the safety of the girls at Camp Mystic was paramount. But that assurance was “betrayed” by obvious and commonsense safety measures and protocols that were absent or ignored, she said.

“As a result, my daughter was stolen from us not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures,” she said through tears. “Cile remains somewhere in the devastation of the Guadalupe River. We remain trapped in agony until she is brought home.”

Reforms proposed in legislation that the committee approved on a voice vote and that the Senate is expected to consider Thursday night “must occur so this tragedy never happens again,” Williams Steward said. Separate legislation is being drafted to address warning systems and disaster response.

All of the parents who testified and a handful of owners of other camps along the Guadalupe River said they support the disaster preparedness bill. The legislation has been dubbed the “Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act.”

“Had the requirements of SB 1 been in place on July 4, I have no doubt that some lives, if not all lives, would have been saved,” said the committee’s chairman, Charles Perry, a Republican.

The legislation would apply to all campgrounds, and it would be more stringent for youth camps, the Senate said in a statement.

Some of the measures the legislation calls for include a requirement that camps file comprehensive emergency plans for…