FEMA removed dozens of Camp Mystic buildings from 100-year flood map before expansion, records show

Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic s buildings from their -year flood map loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before rushing waters swept away children and counselors a review by The Associated Press ascertained The Federal Emergency Management Agency included the prestigious girls summer camp in a Special Flood Hazard Area in its National Flood Insurance map for Kerr County in which means it was required to have flood insurance and faced tighter regulation on any future construction projects That designation means an area is likely to be inundated during a -year flood one severe enough that it only has a chance of happening in any given year Located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River in a region known as flash flood alley Camp Mystic lost at least campers and counselors and longtime owner Dick Eastland when historic floodwaters tore through its property before dawn on July The flood was far more severe than the -year event envisioned by FEMA experts announced and moved so hurriedly in the middle of the night that it caught numerous off guard in a county that lacked a warning system But Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle who has extensively studied FEMA s flood map determinations mentioned it was particularly disturbing that a camp in charge of the safety of so several young people would receive exemptions from basic flood regulation It s a mystery to me why they weren t taking proactive initiatives to move structures away from the hazard let alone challenging what seems like a very reasonable map that shows these structures were in the -year flood zone she announced Camp Mystic didn t respond to emails seeking comment and calls to it rang unanswered The camp has called the flood an unimaginable tragedy and added in a report Thursday that it had restored power for the purpose of communicating with its supporters FEMA exempted buildings at old and new sites In response to an appeal FEMA in amended the county s flood map to remove of the camp s buildings from the hazard area Records show that those buildings were part of the -year-old Camp Mystic Guadalupe which was devastated by last week s flood After further appeals FEMA removed more Camp Mystic structures in and from the designation Those buildings were located on nearby Camp Mystic Cypress Lake a sister site that opened to campers in as part of a major expansion and suffered less damage in the flood Campers have commented the cabins at Cypress Lake withstood crucial damage but those nicknamed the flats at the Guadalupe River camp were inundated Experts say Camp Mystic s requests to amend the FEMA map could have been an attempt to avoid the requirement to carry flood insurance to lower the camp s insurance premiums or to pave the way for renovating or adding new structures under less costly regulations Pralle disclosed the appeals were not surprising because communities and property owners have used them successfully to shield specific properties from regulation Analysis shows flood risks at both camp sites Regardless of FEMA s determinations the hazard was obvious At least structures at Camp Mystic Guadalupe were fully within FEMA s -year flood plain and a insufficient more were partially in that zone according to an AP analysis of statistics provided by First Street a information science company that specializes in modeling setting exposure Jeremy Porter the head of atmosphere implications at First Street revealed FEMA s flood insurance map underestimates flood risks That s because it fails to take into account the effects of heavy precipitation on smaller waterways such as streams and creeks First Street s model puts nearly all of Camp Mystic Guadalupe at hazard during a -year flood The buildings at the newer Cypress Lake site are farther from the south fork of the flood-prone river but adjacent to Cypress Creek FEMA s flood plain doesn t consider the small waterway a vulnerability However First Street s model which takes into account heavy rain and runoff reaching the creek shows that the majority of the Cypress Lake site lies within an area that is at pitfall during a -year flood In a declaration FEMA downplayed the significance of the flood map amendments Flood maps are snapshots in time designed to show minimum standards for floodplain management and the highest threat areas for flood insurance the agency wrote They are not predictions of where it will flood and they don t show where it has flooded before An arduous appeal process can help property owners Property owners challenging FEMA s map designations hire engineers to conduct detailed studies to show where they believe the -year flood plain should veritably be drawn That is a pretty arduous process that can lead to more accurate maps while making it easier for future construction disclosed Chris Steubing executive director of the Texas Floodplain Management Association an industry group that represents floodplain managers Pralle who reviewed the amendments for AP noted that specific of the exempted properties were within feet meters of FEMA s flood plain by the camp s revised calculations which she reported left almost no margin for error She explained her research shows that FEMA approves about of map amendment requests and the process may favor the wealthy and well-connected A survey she published in with researcher Devin Lea analyzed more than buildings that had been removed from FEMA flood maps It exposed that the amendments occurred more often in places where property values were higher more white people lived and buildings were newer Camp expanded after tremendous success FEMA had cautioned in its amendments that other parts of Camp Mystic remained on the flood map and that any future construction or substantial improvement would be subject to flood plain management regulations County authorities not only allowed the camp to keep operating but to dramatically expand Considered Texas royalty after decades of taking care of the daughters of elite families Camp Mystic owners Dick and Tweety Eastland cited the tremendous success of their original camp in explaining the need for a second site nearby The expansion included new cabins and a dining hall chapel archery range and more The camp had campers and more than staffers between its two locations when a state licensing agency conducted an inspection on July two days before the tragedy records show FEMA referred questions about the expansion to local authorities who didn t reply to messages seeking comment Steubing a longtime municipal engineer in Texas declared the rain and flooding that hit Kerr County in a matter of hours were so much more intense than anything in its history that it s hard to call the flood plain management a failure Local representatives likely supposed they were following existing regulations when they allowed the camp to keep growing but then Mother Nature set a new standard he explained You could have built things feet meters higher feet meters higher and they still might have gotten taken down he announced Associated Press reporter Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this assessment Source