BREVARD, N.C. (WLOS) — Summer camp safety is in question nationwide after the deaths of at least 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic in central Texas after flash flooding.
Parts of North Carolina are also experiencing flash flooding, and severe weather is expected this week in the mountains.
Many youth camps in the mountains are as ready as they can be for whatever Mother Nature may throw at them. Many are in session right now, including Keystone Camp in Brevard.
“Safety is always our primary goal,” director emeritus of the camp, Page Lemel, told News 13. “Risk management is all we do. I don’t know if there’s a higher obligation you can assume then being responsible for the safety of other people’s children.”
Keystone Camp has been a summer getaway for thousands of young girls for over 100 years. Lemel has been a part of nearly 40 years of that history. Five generations of her family have seen weather events impact the campgrounds. Throughout that time, adjustments have been made.
“We got rid of the railings [on our bridges] and things that would prevent flow,” she said. “The bridge is very flat and simple. It has nothing that can catch. In redoing our footbridges, we’ve taken support and run them way into the ground to make sure they’re stabilized and can stay in place. We’ve installed culverts to mitigate the water from top to bottom.”
However, the weather can be unpredictable; Camp Mystic is evidence of that.
“I was completely consumed by that news,” Lemel said on Monday. “I can’t fathom what any of those folks have had to deal with.”
Lemel sent notice to the families of her campers shortly after the news broke.
“We had one phone call as we were getting ready to send the email out,” she said. “They were asking about landslide potential here. People have thanked us. They appreciated the proactiveness of the message. There is no guarantee in life, but you do the best you can to mitigate all of the risk.”
While the Graham Creek runs through the site, that’s not the biggest danger. Lightning strikes and fallen trees are larger concerns.
“We spend anywhere from 15 to 50 thousand dollars in a single year maintaining trees,” she said. “We have a certified arborist that comes in every May and does a walkthrough with us. We’re trying to get ahead of this stuff.”
Keystone Camp also installed the Perry Weather system in 2019.
“When the girls hear the lightning alarm, it means there’s lightning within a zero-to-four-mile radius,” Catherine Lemel, camp owner and manager, told News 13. “We get any kind of national weather alert on our phones long before lightning strikes. We get alerts from the Greenville area, Asheville and every single warning we possibly can.”
“That’s huge for us when we have swimming, canoeing, and children in the water,” Page added. “We need advanced notice. We recently were re-accredited by the American Camp Association [ACA].”
That is just one feature that helps Keystone be one of nearly 50 ACA-certified sites throughout Western North Carolina. Those certifications don’t happen without having proper Emergency Action Plans [EAP] in place.
“Every five years, you’re inspected by other ACA volunteers,” Catherine said. “Our counselors' lifeguard certifications, our EAP practice and what we tell our campers. We have EAPs for the weather. We have EAPs for missing campers.”
While tragedies such as Camp Mystic are rare, being prepared for them is something that camps throughout the mountains do every day.
“Who’s to say that this creek couldn’t get bigger than it was during Helene?” Catherine said. “With the way that our world is changing, all we can do is try our best.”
“I’m always challenging myself to do a better job tomorrow,” Page added. “The sheer relief of knowing that everyone made it home is tremendous.”