TX FLOODS! 20 kids missing from Christian camp!

[Szdfan]

Death toll is up to 69. 11 campers and 1 counselor are still missing. There are still flash flood warnings.

[MattY]

[temporal1]

Help on the way ..
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLwVkyztjRb/

Found in Comments:
just_your_avg_texan WROTE:
“H-E-B and local churches have been the backbone of disaster relief in Texas for as long as I can remember.”

[Szdfan]

The death toll is now at 88. Camp Mystic says that 27 campers and counselors have died. 10 campers and 1 counselor are still missing.

This is one of the deadliest floods in the US in the past 100 years.

[JohnH]

This is a really awful event - of the kind you read about in the "third world" and think "that wouldn't happen here". I remember in school when I was young learning about flash floods and to be very wary of them. In Israel when going on hikes we also we were warned to be very careful in wadis, particularly never in a place in a wadi without a plan to be able to escape it in several seconds (under a minute) and to be alert to hear rushing water/see water coming from either direction.

But I would probably assume I were safe if I were in an RV / camping park near that river... and the same goes for a campground set up for summer campers. Let's hope another survivor is found, like the brave girl who was found who survived by holding on to a tree!

[JohnH]

Meanwhile... here's the take from a prominent left-wing pundit:








I think we can agree this is rather mean-spirited; are there Christians out there who are condemning saying things like this?

[Ken]

That part of Texas is known as "Flash Flood Alley" and is the most flash-flood prone location in the entire US. I used to have the following poster on my science classroom in TX and flash flooding was a section I covered in my Aquatic Science classes. https://www.floodsafety.com/media/maps/texas

In 2014 my HS had a student die in a car in a flash flood on the road that ran behind the HS. Literally within 100 meters of the HS next to a stream where I used to take classes to do freshwater ecology. His car got washed 1/2 downstream. Happened at this exact spot. The warning sign and flashing warning lights are new and weren't there in 2014: https://maps.app.goo.gl/QVh9AphksCNRCTfx5

This particular summer camp was built about 100 years ago. They probably didn't get whatever flash alerts went out because like most summer camps these days it is a "no cell phone zone" so campers and counselors are supposed to leave their cell phones behind.

Texas does a horrible job of managing its cell phone alert system because they let the police put up all kinds of stupid crime alerts and people just turn them off. There have been local efforts to put in various warning sirens along low lying areas for flash flood alerts but the local counties and the state never get around to funding any of it. And so here we are.

The red parts of this poster is called the Edwards Plateau and the rugged yellow part where it funnels down to the flatter lowlands is called the Balcones Escarpment. When big rainstorms fall here it creates perfect conditions for flash floods at the base of the Balcones escarpment because water gets funneled down those channels and explodes the rivers.

Camp Mystic where this disaster happened is located right above San Antonio on this map along the Guadalupe River along the Balcones Escarpment right at the boundary between the red and yellow elevations

[Ken]

I think we can agree this is rather mean-spirited; are there Christians out there who are condemning saying things like this?

Of course it is mean-spirited and profoundly ignorant.

I have no idea who this guy is, he seems to be some sort of ignorant twitter shock jock who markets stupidity. But yes, stupid vicious takes come from all sides when these sorts of things happen. For example, I remember Franklin Graham celebrating the destruction of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina as the "wrath of God" or some such.

[JohnH]

I think we can agree this is rather mean-spirited; are there Christians out there who are condemning saying things like this?

Of course it is mean-spirited and profoundly ignorant.

I have no idea who this guy is, he seems to be some sort of ignorant twitter shock jock who markets stupidity. But yes, stupid vicious takes come from all sides when these sorts of things happen.

He's a "streamer" with 600 million views on YouTube. One of many parts of the "new media" that has Gen Z's eyeballs and that frankly I fully don't understand, but is quite influential.

For example, I remember Franklin Graham celebrating the destruction of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina as the "wrath of God" or some such.

Yeah - that was pretty awful. Particularly when such storms had been predicted by meteorologists for a long time and it was almost a certainty it would eventually happen given the state of Nola's levees and how much is below sea level.

[temporal1]

This is a really awful event - of the kind you read about in the "third world" and think "that wouldn't happen here". I remember in school when I was young learning about flash floods and to be very wary of them. In Israel when going on hikes we also we were warned to be very careful in wadis, particularly never in a place in a wadi without a plan to be able to escape it in several seconds (under a minute) and to be alert to hear rushing water/see water coming from either direction.

But I would probably assume I were safe if I were in an RV / camping park near that river... and the same goes for a campground set up for summer campers. Let's hope another survivor is found, like the brave girl who was found who survived by holding on to a tree!

50+years ago, and before, not having tech to eternally save us, in mainland U.S., we learned about the speed+devastation of flash floods - esp in desert areas - where rain is unexpected. Even minor flash floods in any location can easily cause death. Rushing water+currents are powerful, and, not always visible.

We were in the midwest, no river or lake nearby. Or hills or mountains.

Local rain isn’t always an indicator!
If rains occur in above hills-mountains, the water will make its way to lower areas with no rain warning at all. Snow melt, ditto.
There may be no evident surface change, but underlying currents can increase drastically.

Heraclitus —
‘No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.’

Rivers demand respect.