That is a question that Associated Press personnel Ryan J. Foley and Christopher L. Keller are trying to get an answer to.

Here are excerpts from the Associated Press article written by Foley and Keller:

“Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-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 found.

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 2011, which means it was required to have flood insurance and faced tighter regulation on any future construction projects. . .

In response to an appeal, FEMA in 2013 amended the county’s flood map to remove 15 of the camp’s buildings from the hazard area. Records show that those buildings were part of the 99-year-old Camp Mystic Guadalupe, which was devastated by last week’s flood.

After further appeals, FEMA removed 15 more Camp Mystic structures in 2019 and 2020 from the designation. Those buildings were located on nearby Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a sister site that opened to campers in 2020 as part of a major expansion and suffered less damage in the flood.

ABC News reports the following about the region that was flooded:

“The Guadalupe River Basin is one of the three most dangerous regions in the country for flash floods, according to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority.

River streamflow records, which go back to the 1800s, show that major floods have occurred over nearly all sections of the Guadalupe River Basin, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.”

The USA’s National Weather Service describes a tragedy from a flash flood that took place in the same region in July of 1987:

“Hundreds of other people along the Guadalupe River and its tributaries that night and morning had to be evacuated. The 1987 Guadalupe Flood is unfortunately known for the tragic loss of 10 teenagers lives and 33 other injuries when a bus and van leaving a church camp encountered the flood waters.”

From USA Today:

“Flood experts believe that the future will bring an increased risk of flash flooding to this already flood-prone area as more development in the region creates more impermeable surfaces and thus more runoff, AccuWeather said.”

USA Today also cites a historical report about a flood that took place in that area in the year 1846:

“The Guadalupe (River) would often rise 15 feet above its normal stand after these heavy rains, carrying with it in its swift torrent a number of large trees, uprooted farther up the hills. Smaller brooks, ordinarily not containing flowing water, became raging torrents which could be crossed only by swimming.”

A CNN story about the recent tragedy has this headline: “Camp Mystic’s owner warned of floods for decades. Then the river killed him“.

The previous question remains: Why the hell was a summer camp operating in a flash flood zone in the first place?

In their story for the Associated Press, Foley and Keller write the following:

“County officials 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.”

This blogger would like to know how the owners of Camp Mystic defined tremendous success.

Was that “tremendous success” worth risking the lives of campers by deliberately placing them in an area that has been known as Flash Flood Alley for quite a long time?

This blogger doesn’t expect that last question to be answered. After all, this tragedy happened in Texas.