AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed bills to address camp safety and flood relief on Friday morning, two months after Independence Day weekend flooding in Central Texas killed more than 130 people. Those bills were Senate Bills 1 and 3, and House Bill 1.
Callie and Michael McCown, whose daughter Linnie died during the flooding while attending Camp Mystic, attended the ceremony alongside other impacted families. They spoke with KXAN afterwards.
“If that was a private policy by the camp, these kids would still be alive,” said Michael McCown about flood warning evacuations. “When something is 100% preventable, it’s just awful and it’s very sad … I have a very hard time calling this a tragedy. Because, in my mind, it was 100% preventable.”
Exclusive: Austin parents whose daughter died at Camp Mystic speak out
HB 1 changed the requirements to get a youth camp license to operate and requires camps to renew their license after certain periods. SB 1 put new limits on where cabins can be built near floodplain and floodways, while SB 3 requires flood warning sirens to be placed in flood-prone areas throughout the state…