After digesting this for a few days, there is so much Kerr County (and with respect to the city, Kerrville) got wrong both in long term and short term to exacerbate this. It’s not to take any responsibility off of the camps. But given Kerr County’s unique risk when compared to other counties, they, in short and long term, took every shortcut afforded to them right down to posting the flood risk on Facebook as opposed to actually, you know, calling the camps. The camps don’t have cell service but they have land lines and radios and internet. The lack of cell service being a cause is a red herring. The campers don’t have access, which is the point. But if the county isn’t warning them, it’s not doing its job.
People can shit on the Eastlands, but La Junta, Honey Creek, and Heart of the Hills were all caught off guard. They just were “luckier” to have been a little further down river and/or not have campers in session. And as we know HoH lost its leader, too.
The camps have liability here, certainly. But the county did nothing to extend its resources and awareness of the situation to the campers and tourists in the area. The comparison to the Jaws mayor isn’t far off.