When water rushed along the Guadalupe River in Texas last week, a Christian summer camp in the water’s path was devastated as the flooding killed 27 campers and counsellors.

At least 100 people have died following the severe flooding in the state, with more than 160 still missing.

The tragedy at Camp Mystic may have Canadians wondering about safety standards here and what they should be asking when deciding on camps for their families.

“Camp professionals like directors and operators and senior staff take operating a camp extremely seriously,” said Matt Wilfrid, the executive director of the Canadian Camping Association, which advocates for policies to support the growth of Canada’s camps.

He said provincial camping associations — which accredit camps — provide comprehensive guidelines and requirements, including mandatory preparation for extreme weather such as tornadoes or flooding.

“This happens in the form of crisis response plans, camp safety plans, evacuation procedures that are reviewed by camp operators and provincial associations on an annual basis,” Wilfrid said.

Camp Mystic had emergency plans approved by the Department of State Health Services just two days before the disaster.

Records show the camp complied with a host of state regulations on disaster response, including instructing campers what to do if they need to evacuate and assigning specific duties to staff.

But five years of inspection reports released to The Associated Press offer no details of those plans.

The Associated Press also reports a former camper said she didn’t recall ever receiving instructions on what to do in case of a weather emergency.

Charlotte Lauten, 19, said the flooding happening in the middle of the night likely hindered the girls’ ability to escape, noting campers don’t have access to their phones while at camp.

Among the training camp officials receive is what kind of signals could indicate a growing danger, said Eric Shendelman, the former president of the Ontario Camps Association, which accredits camps in the province.

That can include monitoring water levels and weather, as well as an understanding of radar systems.

“You’ll know if rivers are going to crest, if rain continues and water starts moving to basically mobilize the campers and staff and get them to higher ground for sure and make sure that everyone’s accounted for,” he said.

If an emergency does happen, each camp will have procedures in place for organizing an incident response team, as well as a health-care team in place, he added.

Camps are expected to be able to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, said Brad Halsey, vice-chair of the Alberta Camping Association board.

“We certainly instill that and there’s that expectation that, regardless (of the) time of day, something could happen and we need to be ready to respond,” Halsey said. 

Halsey told Global News that camps will typically advise campers to know where a “muster point” or gathering place is to go in an emergency and who the leaders are so they know who to go to.

“Which even speaks into the trust and the nature of camp, and that you’re building that relationship so that in an emergency, even if that kid totally forgets, where I’m supposed to go, what I’m supposed to be doing, they know that this authority person in front of me knows what they’re doing,” he said.

He added that some camps will conduct drills so campers are familiar with the process.

Trending Now

Even with standards in place across Canada, the flooding in Texas reflects a bigger challenge.

“The reality that we live in now is that these kinds of events — flash flood events, hurricanes, extreme weather that manifests on the ground in unprecedented ways — they are now precedented,” said Kate Maddalena, an assistant communications professor at the University of Toronto – Mississauga whose work focuses on climate communication and emergency readiness.

More investments in flood mapping, infrastructure and early warning systems are needed to help get ahead of those threats, said Ryan Ness with the Canadian Climate Institute.

He said warnings can help people in the path of flash floods “prepare or get away, if they can,” flood maps can help know where to send the warnings, and infrastructure improvements like flood walls could protect risk zones.

Halsey and Wilfrid both add that if parents are unsure about their child’s safety, ask questions of the camp itself and look at whether the camp is accredited.

“I think that provincial accreditation speaks volumes towards a lot of the individual questions about, ‘How does my camp respond if there’s wildfire smoke?’ or those types of things,” Wilfrid said.

“It’s important to recognize that risk is inevitable … but what you want to have for your child, and when I think about my daughter, I want her at a place that has seriously considered these risks and designed comprehensive policies and procedures to mitigate them.”

According to Halsey, it can also be good to ask if the camp has an emergency preparedness document so you know they have plans in case of an emergency, as well as how supervision is conducted.

“For me and any staff I’ve worked with, I really try to emphasize the fact that somebody is trusting us with their most precious possession and the last thing we want to do is take advantage of that or add to the risk of them already sending a child away,” he said.

— With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press