When an American dream turns into a nightmare

Off to camp. It’s an American summer classic. Children get to sleep in cabins and learn to canoe. And parents get a chance for a break of their own, expecting their loved ones are safe in rustic surroundings.

But tragedy is unpredictable and can happen anytime. The deluge that hit Camp Mystic in Texas Hill Country and left 27 children and counselors dead has shined a national spotlight on camp safety and what parents should do before sending their kids off to camps across the United States.

More than 26 million children attend U.S. summer camps annually, from Florida to Alaska. A USA TODAY review of summer camp deaths in numerous states shows drownings, accidents and illnesses at camps are a persistent problem that has led to lawsuits accusing camp owners of negligence.

“No parent could ever fathom that leaving their child at a day camp would be the last time they would see their child alive,” says a website dedicated to the memory of a 4-year-old who drowned at a California summer camp in 2005. “Every parent of a young child should know how quickly a child can drown. Every parent should know how dangerous daycare or camp facilities can be, even if they outwardly appear to be safe.”

The family was awarded $16.2 million in 2009 at a civil trial over the child’s death, attorneys said.

In Texas, the tragedy on the banks of the Guadalupe River has left many reeling over how to prevent the unthinkable.

“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,” reads a statement from Camp Mystic, a 99-year-old private nondenominational Christian camp. “We are praying for them constantly.”

How common are camp catastrophes?

Typically, camp is the summer idyll parents want for their kids. In addition to independent accreditation organizations, a number of states have developed stringent regulations and camp safety councils to keep children safe. And many states around the nation report camps have overwhelmingly clean safety records.

In 2024, for example, the New York state health department recorded no fatalities at the 2,408 camps it regulates that care for an estimated 900,000 children, according to a state incident report.

The last reported death, in 2023, was for medical reasons, said health department spokesperson Erin Clary.

New York’s camp safety council factored natural disasters into its safety considerations as recently as October 2024. The primary concern, according to a meeting agenda, was extreme heat.

Dozens of websites offer parents guidance on what camps to pick and how to prepare a child for the summer camp experience. Others highlight precautionary health measures for campers and provide parents with questions for camp operators.

Summer fun turned nightmare

But some summer camp experiences are still overshadowed by tragedy, often the result of cavalier attitudes on the part of operators, according to experts.

“It’s really hard to send your child away for summer camp for a couple weeks,” said Tucker Merrigan, a catastrophic-injury lawyer representing a family whose son died in a boating accident at a summer camp in New England. “It’s an amazing moment for childhood independence, but there’s a reason why we’re so protective of them: They’re the picture of human vulnerability.”

Merrigan, a founding partner of Sweeney Merrigan, represents the family of Keoni Hubbard, an 11-year-old killed in 2023 in a motorboat accident at a camp in New Hampshire run by Scouting America, the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.

The 18-year-old boat pilot had only one hour of experience at the helm, according to the pending lawsuit.

“That kind of environment of sheer disregard for safety and human life is why they’re ultimately pursuing this case,” Merrigan said, referring to the Hubbard family. “They need to alert parents that camps need to have accountability.”

Scouting America declined to comment.

Mass casualty events at camp

The Texas tragedy has been one of the most widely followed stories in the nation. Five children and a camp counselor remained missing as of July 8.

“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters after visiting the camp in Kerr County. “We will remain 100% dedicated to finding any of those missing children as well as anyone else.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, described the disaster as “every parent’s nightmare.”

Some experts say more precautions are needed.

Natalie Simpson, a disaster response expert at the University at Buffalo School of Management, recommends that areas prone to flood adopt more proactive measures, such as California’s required fire breaks around properties in areas prone to brush fires.

“If you have a higher duty of care, like you’re taking care of people’s children, maybe even though it’s such a lovely spot, you don’t allow” cabins to be placed close to potentially dangerous waters, Simpson said.

Outbreaks of infection are more common at summer camps, although they may not result in fatalities.

Common summer camp diseases include Lyme disease, norovirus and whooping cough, according to a Wisconsin Department of Health Services fact sheet for camp operators.

New York state’s 2024 camp incident report also shows COVID-19, pink eye, coxsackie virus and gastroenteritis were common camp ailments.

And sometimes fate outranks precaution. “It’s not a question of blame. … You have a flash flood at 3 a.m. when everybody is asleep right on the eve of a holiday,” Simpson said.

What should camps be doing?

Camps nationwide are regulated in a number of ways to prevent tragedies.

The Texas Hill Country camp at the center of the reckoning over the floods was up to date with state licensing standards, said Lara Anton, a spokesperson for the state’s department of health services.

Regulations that state inspectors check in annual inspections include that emergency plans for flooding are posted in all buildings, Anton said. The agency does not keep a copy of a camp’s plans, Anton said.

The emergency plans are implemented if a disaster strikes, according to state code. In an emergency, staff are supposed to have “specific assignments” to evacuate campers and others from “each occupied building and facility.”

But the Texas code gives no explicit provision about flood warnings or watches.

An act of nature

Many in the camp community said what happened at Camp Mystic was unpreventable.

“This tragic event ranks among the most severe flooding disasters in recent camp history, and its scale has deeply shaken the camp community. Camps across the country work tirelessly to provide safe, enriching experiences, and our focus remains on supporting those affected during this incredibly difficult time,” said American Camp Association Interim President Henry DeHart. “But no amount of planning could have anticipated this disaster. This tragedy is a sobering reminder of the unpredictable forces of nature.”

The camping organization already has begun raising money on its website to assist in future natural disasters involving campers: “Unfortunately, camps are not immune to effects of natural disasters. From the hurricanes inland in the southeast this fall, to the fires in California this winter, the tornadoes in Missouri, and now the flooding in the Hill Country of Texas, this is just the beginning of the effects of climate change.”

More than 20,000 camps adhere to the camp association’s accreditation standards, which subject camps to inspections to ensure they have safeguards such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and qualified lifeguards.

The association recommends ways to vet a camp’s reliability, including ensuring that more than 40% of the staff returns every year and there there’s the proper ratio of counselors to campers by age group.

But the organization’s standards don’t explicitly address natural disasters.

Protecting a child is paramount

For two decades, the family of Yoni Gottesman, a 4-year-old who drowned at a California summer camp in 2005, is still trying to raise awareness over camp safety.

Gottesman died after counselors and lifeguards “did nothing to enforce” swimming restrictions on the child, who was still learning to swim, the family said.

After a 5½-week trial, the jury returned verdicts against the camp for compensatory and punitive damages totaling more than $16.2 million. The jury not only awarded damages for negligence, but it also found that the key defendants committed willful misconduct and that they acted with malice, oppression and fraud.

Cappello & Noël, the law firm representing Yoni’s family, “created a website for Yoni, both as a memorial to Yoni and to draw attention to the serious safety issues that exist in camps and child-care facilities,” it said. “Every parent should demand that law enforcement protect their children, not businesses that place profits over safety.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What the Texas floods mean for summer campers around the nation