The grieving parents of the victims of the Camp Mystic flooding incident are calling on officials to implement better safety measures to avoid a similar tragedy from happening in the future.
Parents described their young kids' personalities, quirks, and achievements before sharing their experiences with grief, guilt, and loss following the tragic incident. They then admonished lawmakers to approve a series of reforms that will help prevent similar tragedies from unfolding in the future.
Parents of Camp Mystic Victims Speak in Committee Hearing
The parents of Cile Steward, who is the only girl still missing out of 27 children and counselors who died at the girls' camp, also testified in the bicameral committee hearing. The proceedings also led some of the senators in attendance to cry.
There were a total of 120 people who were confirmed to have been killed in Kerr County, including individuals from Camp Mystic, due to the massive flooding. Cici Williams Steward, Cile's mom, said she was assured that the safety of the girls at Camp Mystic was paramount, according to NBC News.
However, she claims that that assurance was "betrayed" by obvious and commonsense safety measures and protocols that were either absent or ignored. The mother added that this resulted in her daughter being stolen from them, not because of an "unavoidable act of nature," but because of "preventable failures."
The grieving parent said that Cile was still somewhere in the devastation of the Guadalupe River, leaving them trapped in agony until her body is brought home. The proceedings come as various reforms are proposed in legislation that the committee approved on a voice vote.
Calling for Better Safety Measures
On the other hand, the parent of camp counselor 18-year-old Chloe Childress, Matthew Childress, said that training should prepare camp staff and campers to act, not wait. He said that his daughter died trying to protect the young girls who were under her care at the time of the flooding, the New York Times reported.
Almost all of the victims at Camp Mystic were confined to two cabins near the Guadalupe River. Their parents also recounted the moment they had to enter a morgue so they could identify their children's lifeless bodies.
Another parent, Michael McCown, also spoke at the hearing after losing his eight-year-old daughter, Linnie. He said that they did not send their young child to a war zone, but to a camp. He noted that no parent should ever have to go through what they, and many others, are living through right now, as per CNN.
