Texas, Camp and flood
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Texas, flooding
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Young campers and a dad saving his family were among the dozens killed in the historic flash floods that tore through central Texas over the holiday weekend.
Dick Eastland, the Camp Mystic owner who pushed for flood alerts on the Guadalupe River, was killed in last week’s deadly surge.
Eight-year-old girls at sleep-away camp, families crammed into recreational vehicles, local residents traveling to or from work. These are some of the victims.
37mon MSN
Hammond got his window down and he and his wife escaped through the front of the car. Malaya had the harder task of getting the minivan’s back door open as the water quickly rose, her father said. “Miraculously, she got it open in time," he said, and Malaya helped her siblings and the friend escape, sending them all into the rushing waters.
Bubble Inn saw generations of 8-year-olds enter as strangers and emerge as confident young ladies equipped with new skills from the great outdoors and lifelong friends – bonds that would one day prove vital in the face of unfathomable tragedy.
Renee Smajstrla, a 8-year-old straight-A student from Ingram, Texas, who had played a role in her school’s production of “The Wizard of Oz,” was one of the victims who died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, her family said.
The state leaves building zoning and permits up to the individual counties. And in most non-city counties, such as Kerr, which had 96 deaths as of Thursday due to floods, some officials tend to be lenient towards building owners with restrictions, some state leaders and environmental experts told ABC News.