The July 4 Guadalupe River Flood, Gauge by Gauge

An animated data graphic: The July 4 Guadalupe River Flood, Gauge by Gauge

As a scientist and former camp counselor, this project hit me pretty hard.

For seven summers (ages 13 to 19), I was a counselor at Camp Rokilio, a small Boy Scout camp in eastern Wisconsin. I learned a lot of life lessons while working as a youth in charge of other youth: how to take initiative and just fix things that need fixing, how to apologize and move on, how much I love being outside with friends, how it feels to stand together against injustice, and how deeply I enjoy working hard with others towards a common goal. I also learned how to tie a lot of knots — arguably my most useful skill.

So reading about the disaster at Camp Mystic — a Christian summer camp for girls — and the terrifying last moments of 25 children, two teenage camp counselors, and the camp director who was frantically trying to save them when his truck was swept away struck a chord.

There has been a lot of great reporting done on the floods, and I’ve read it all. One of the best (in a maddening way) is a recent article by Alejandra Martinez and Zach Despart in the Texas Tribune. It’s an exceptionally reported article about how residents of Kerr County, a typically bucolic region of campgrounds and RV parks, didn’t want to pay even $6/year for sirens along their portion of the Guadalupe River, a stretch known for deadly flash floods. Even Camp Rokilio had a siren to muster campers in the event of a tornado, tested every week and used once for a real emergency during my time as a counselor.

It makes me feel ill, to know how little we can think another person’s life is worth. But the story of the July 4 floods in Central Texas bears witnessing as a cautionary tale, especially as the U.S. dismantles its infrastructure and investments that were focused on preparation and prevention. We pay for everything, eventually.

See the Visual

Personal notes:

• I will be in Anchorage from August 19 until September 12. If you’re there too, I’d love to see you!

• After that, we are moving from Atlanta to New York City. I’m continuing to freelance and work on projects for this newsletter. Come visit!