HOUSTON – At a memorial for the 27 victims — 25 girls and two camp counselors — who died in the tragic flood at Camp Mystic in the Texas Hill Country, young voices expressed the deep pain felt by many Texas families.
John Kerr, a former youth camp director with 20 years of experience at two camps within 15 miles of Camp Mystic, shared his perspective on the disaster.
“My heart goes out to everybody. Being in this world and knowing what camp directors have to go to, my heart bleeds for them,” Kerr said.
Kerr explained how unpredictable flash flooding can be in the Texas Hill Country. During his time as a camp director, he witnessed several floods with water rising more than five feet, including one that reached 15 feet.
“That one actually did catch us off guard, even with our advanced warning systems and with state-of-the-art communication radio systems,” he said.
As search and rescue efforts continue along the Guadalupe River, Kerr described why flash floods can develop so quickly and become so powerful in this area.
“When you have these hills filled with limestone, which is our topography in the southern part of Hill Country, the water isn’t absorbed into soil, it’s got no place to go but run downhill. So everything is being picked up and sent down into the river and depending on how much rainfall you have, it can be a giant flood,” Kerr said.
One key question in the aftermath is what kind of warning system Camp Mystic had in place for such weather events.
Kerr described the system he used at his camps: “Typically camps have some kind of system where there is someone that is monitoring the weather, is what you’re asking. And they might even be asleep, but in my camp, for example, we had a warning, an electronic warning system where if there was a two-inch rise in the river, it would ping my radio and there’s always someone with a radio next to their ear at night with it on and operating.”
Reflecting on the tragedy, Kerr said it is too early to assign blame.
“No, I’m sure there will be some investigations to verify all that, but this was by far, and I’ve been through this many times, this was by way bigger a flood than anybody anticipated,” he said.
He also noted Camp Mystic’s long history and the care taken by its leadership.
“That camp’s been around for a hundred years and I know Dickie and Tweedy Eastland, they don’t, they have always been hypersensitive about those kinds of issues and protecting their kids,” Kerr said.
