US inspectors reportedly manipulated official flood risk maps to remove several of the buildings at Camp Mystic, a Texas camp where 27 children died in heavy flooding.
According to The New York Times and Associated Press, maps created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in 2011 indicated that the popular summer camp was at significant risk of flooding.
However, they claim that Camp Mystic, located in a low-lying location along the Guadalupe River, successfully disputed such designations.
The BBC contacted FEMA and Camp Mystic, both of which have not publicly commented on the situation.
According to FEMA, flood maps are “a tool that communities use to know which areas have the highest risk of flooding”.
Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle, who has researched the FEMA flood projections, found it “perplexing” that the riverfront camp was exempt from the maps.
“I think it’s extremely troubling that it’s a camp for children,” Prof Pralle told the New York Times.
“You’d think you want to be extra cautious – that you’d go beyond the minimum of what’s required for flood protection.”
According to FEMA’s official flood maps, several of Camp Mystic’s cabins were located in a “floodway”, which is a particularly hazardous location where deadly floodwaters are projected to flow, according to the NY Times.
It stated that other cottages were located in a larger zone that was likewise projected to flood once every hundred years.
These classifications necessitate flood insurance for the camp, as well as stricter rules for any construction initiatives.
The publication also stated that the FEMA maps had not been altered to include Camp Mystic’s written appeals.
The popular camp lost at least 27 teenage girls when floodwaters swept across the grounds before morning on July 4.
At least 129 people have died in Texas, and many more remain missing.
On Friday, President Donald Trump visited flood-affected communities, promising that the government will assist people who had lost their homes and property in rebuilding.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
Trump also disregarded a reporter’s query about what else might have been done to warn locals, stating, “Only an evil person would ask a question like that.”
Following the horrific disaster, concerns have been raised regarding whether appropriate warnings were issued and why camps were not evacuated ahead of the downpour.
According to experts, a number of variables contributed to the fatal impact of the flash flood, including the early morning timing and the position of some buildings.
