The View From Death In Texas
A Look Into The Dark Heart Of MAGA
Precursor Of Trump - Project 2025 Madness In An Age Of Climate Catastrophe
In a Saturday July 5 morning post - "You're On Your Own" - which was written just hours after the event and based on a rapid review of government documents, I closed my initial assessment of the Texas flooding thusly:
So there it is, the view from death in Texas: An Individualist anti-government “you’re on your own” philosophy; no land use restrictions; no mandatory safety regulations; and a Christian anti-science worldview.
That post noted a series of vulnerabilities and fatal flaws by local and State officials, including: 1) extremely high flood risks; 2) poor or no hazard prevention and preparation planning (by the County and State); 3) poor or no emergency warning systems and evacuation plans; 4) no State or local land use restrictions; 5) no State or local flood management regulations; 6) no local building code or zoning restrictions; 7) climate denial; 8) a pervasive religious anti-science worldview; and 9) an anti-government (anti-regulation and anti-tax) individualist philosophy.
I also was skeptical of and dismissed the claims made by advocates and opportunists with an agenda, i.e blaming the National Weather Service and/or Trump's budget cuts to NWS and NOAA, and exaggerating the role of climate change (while ignoring flood risks, hydrology, geology, land use, and planning and regulation).
Those conclusions have held up very well as the facts of the disaster have emerged.
But I got some things badly wrong.
So I need to correct the record now, having just read another devastating report by The NY Times:
Of course, I knew that the camp's cabins were located in a hazardous flood zone.
But I did not know these facts, which shed even more light on the criminal negligence and corruption of many:
The camp pursued an expansion project six years ago. Instead of relocating cabins to higher ground, it put new ones in the flood zone. ...
... six years ago, when Camp Mystic pursued a $5 million construction project to overhaul and expand its private, for-profit Christian camp, no effort was made to relocate the most at-risk cabins away from the river. Instead, local officials authorized the construction of new cabins in another part of the camp — including some that also lie in a designated flood-risk area. The older ones along the river remained in use. ...
Camp Mystic officials have not responded to questions about the camp’s construction or flood preparations. The camp passed a state inspection just two days before the flood, with inspectors noting that the camp had emergency plans. Details about evacuation plans were not detailed in their report. ...
After a devastating flood in 1987 that killed 10 teenagers from a different camp, the region installed a system of rain gauges that could notify emergency personnel of an imminent flood.
Dick Eastland, the co-owner and executive director of Camp Mystic, who died in last week’s flooding, had worked to approve that system, saying that it would give people along the river more time to react to a flood event.
Wow.
So, let me try to summarize in bullet fashion the things I got badly wrong in my initial assessment.
Media initially created the impressions that Camp Mystic was a very old mom and pop operation (1926), lacked resources to hire experts, was grandfathered (exempt) from modern flood management regulations, and was located in a rural dirt poor County that could not afford a simple siren emergency warning system.
But it turns out that all of that was wrong:
1) the camp is a profitable operation (it cost $4,300/month to attend);
2) the camp served the Texas elite:
The daughters of senators, presidents, and oil barons would stream through the green gates for a summer of fishing, hunting, and Christian values. First Lady Laura Bush was a camp counsellor there during college, while President Lyndon B Johnson sent daughters and granddaughters through the green gates.;
3) the camp is no mom and pop operation that was grandfathered from regulations. The camp underwent a recent $5 million expansion that should have triggered State and local flood and safety regulations;
4) Kerr County is Texas's #2 county for highest density of millionaire's! See:
So, we're not dealing with dirt poor, backward, rural hicks who didn't know better.
We're not dealing with government planners and regulators who were legally handcuffed by legal grandfathering and property rights restrictions.
We're dealing with right wing ideologies and twisted values that are deadly, particularly at a time of accelerating climate emergency.
In other words, the view of death from Texas provides a look into the dark heart of Trump - MAGA and where they are taking us.