The REAL reason there was no evacuation plan and no evacuation at Camp Mystic
There was no evacuation plan and no evacuation because the camp had never bothered to build a safe sanctuary to hold evacuated campers.
Despite spending a reported $15-20 million over the last 15 years on defending lawsuits from his brother, and building Cypress Lake, Dick never bothered to build a high, safe building to house the campers in case of a flood.
When "the big flood" came again, 93 years after the previous big one, there was no safe place to send the girls. Dick dawdled for two hours as the flood worsened, hoping it wouldn't really be that bad. Eventually, water was pouring down the hills inches deep and the flats were flooding too high to traverse. Rec Hall was full, and in danger of either collapsing or being swept away.
Had the Eastlands built a safe refuge for the girls to evacuate to, there would have been a building that was a standing testimony that "this is where you go when it floods". Having built such a refuge, the Camp would have then been compelled to have a real evacuation plan and a real "flood evacuation drill".
This building could have had terrific illumination, and safe paths from each cabin area to get to it. Without it, all Dick could do is hope Rec Hall didn't collapse (a miracle even an atheist would admit), and hope girls didn't get hit by lightning, trees, and flash floods while climbing up steep hills.
The lack of a safe building in which to house evacuated campers (and staff...) is THE REASON Dick dawdled and THE REASON Dick froze and THE REASON he eventually panicked and tried to shelter a cabin inside his Tahoe.
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Yes, the Camp should have sent all the girls to Camp Cypress Lake for a sleepover rather than playing Taps at 10 pm. But the fact that the Eastlands never bothered to build a safe evacuation space is evidence that they really didn't believe it would ever be needed. Had there been such a place, there could have been written procedures about exactly what objective data triggers an evacuation.
Instead, all that was available was "wait in your cabin" and "wait for instructions from Dick". And what was Dick doing? Monitoring his rain gauge, which is absurd because the flash flood, and all deadly floodwaters, come from upstream, not from rain falling on the ground you are on.
No river camp should ever be allowed to operate without a safe, DEDICATED building for evacuation, along with a written evacuation procedure, and written evacuation triggers.
edited: corrected time span since 1932 flood