Texas Families Urge Leaders for Enhanced Safety Measures After Fatal Hill Country Floods

Families who lost their children in the July 4 flooding at Camp Mystic are providing testimony to the Texas Senate Committee on Disaster and Flooding Preparedness on Wednesday.

Twenty-seven Camp Mystic campers and counselors lost their lives in the Hill County floods that killed more than 130 people.

Those parents formed a coalition called The Campaign for Camp Safety with a mission to prevent future disasters at youth camps.

“Our children’s lives were tragically taken because the existing safeguards were insufficient,” a spokesperson for The Campaign for Camp Safety stated. “We are appealing to lawmakers to ensure no other family experiences the agony we’ve faced every day since July 4.”

RELATED: Emergency recordings and videos detail the chaotic rescue efforts during the deadly Texas floods

Coalition representatives have reported discussions with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who assured them that measures would be taken.

The coalition is advocating for relocating structures away from floodplains and initiating an emergency response protocol for campsites, which includes enhanced communication systems.

They are also calling for an investigative committee to look into the preventable aspects of what happened at Camp Mystic.

Lawmakers are considering those during the current special session.