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New Summer Camp Safety Laws Follow Texas’ Tragic Floods

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The families of “Heaven’s 27,” the children and counselors lost at Camp Mystic, pressed the Legislature to toughen flood rules over the objections of some Hill Country camp operators.

Four men in suits sitting at a table, with several holding up printed copies of legislation.

Sept. 5, 2025Updated 8:03 p.m. ET

Two months after the July 4 floods that devastated central Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed a package of summer camp safety laws that proponents say would have prevented many deaths in the camps and campgrounds that line the Guadalupe River.

Of the more than 130 victims of the disaster, 27 were young campers and counselors at a single summer retreat, Camp Mystic. The camp housed its youngest campers in cabins only a short walk from the river, which quickly overflowed and merged with a nearby creek in the dead of night.

The new laws require youth camps in the state to build new cabins and move existing ones away from dangerous floodplains, and to operate emergency warning systems and public address systems that are functional even if the internet goes out, among other provisions.

“Camp safety is now law in the great state of Texas,” Mr. Abbott said at the signing ceremony in Austin.

Dozens of family members of the girls who died attended the ceremony at the governor’s mansion, with some breaking down in tears as the governor signed the legislation.

“All of them lost their lives, but they have now given their lives for others in the future,” said Matthew Childress, the father of Chloe Childress, a counselor who died.