Camp Mystic buildings were removed from flood map, US media reports

American regulators would have given calls to withdraw numerous mystical buildings from the camp of official flooding cards for years before the deaths of 27 children in serious floods.

Citing official files, the New York Times and Associated Press said that the cards of the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) in 2011 initially considered that the popular summer camp was at high risk of flood.

But they say that Camp Mystic – located in a lower area by the Guadalupe river – then successfully challenged these designations.

The BBC contacted the FEMA and Camp Mystic, which none of which publicly commented on the question.

FEMA describes flood cards as “a tool that communities use to find out which areas have the highest risk of floods”.

The aggregated professor of the University of Syracuse, Sarah Pralle, who studied the flooding cards of FEMA, said that she had found “perplexed” that the riverside camp had obtained exemptions from the cards.

“I think it’s extremely disturbing that it is a camp for children,” Professor Pralle told New York Times.

“You might think that you want to be very careful – that you would go beyond the minimum of what is necessary for the protection of floods.”

FEMA’s official flooding cards show that some of the Mystic camp cabins were in a “flooding path”, a particularly dangerous area where dangerous flood waters should flow, the New York Times reported.

He said other cabins were in a larger area which should also flood every 100 years.

These designations require the camp to have more strict flood insurance and regulations on all construction projects.

The newspaper added that the FEMA cards had not been changed to incorporate the written calls from Camp Mystic.

The popular camp lost at least 27 young girls when flood waters torn the premises before dawn on July 4.

In Texas, at least 129 people were killed and scores are still missing.

Friday, President Donald Trump visited the areas affected by the floods, committing to the government to help those who have lost their homes and their properties to rebuild.

“I have never seen anything like it,” he said.

Trump also rejected a question of a journalist on what could have been done to warn residents, saying: “Only a diabolical person would ask a question like that.”

Following the fatal tragedy, questions were raised to find out if adequate warnings were provided and why the camps were not evacuated to the flood.

Experts said that a number of factors have led to the deadly impact of sudden flood, including timing before dawn and the location of certain buildings.