Every year, 26 million children attend summer camp across the United States. AccuWeather is now partnering with local organizations and community leaders in the Texas Hill Country, which was impacted by last year’s historic and deadly flooding, to take additional steps to better protect campers and staff and to improve severe weather preparedness and responsiveness.
Texas Hill Country flooding recovery focuses on camp safety
As AccuWeather reports, communities across the Hill Country are taking steps to rebuild stronger and safer in the wake of the deadly Texas flooding. A new partnership between AccuWeather and the Hunt Preservation Society aims to improve severe weather preparedness and response by bringing often more advance warnings, expert meteorologist support and new tools to camps, first responders and local organizations.
The Hunt Preservation Society, with strong ties to the community, is partnering with AccuWeather as both organizations work to strengthen severe weather preparedness, support rebuilding the Texas Hill Country, and help the area recover.
The effort is designed not only to support recovery but also to reduce the risk of another flash-flooding disaster in a region where storms can turn deadly within minutes.
Summer camps use real-time weather warnings to best protect campers
For camp leaders, the focus is on making faster, more informed decisions when dangerous weather develops. “You have to assume that the worst is going to happen in order to keep kids safe, but if you have hyperlocalized forecasting and real-time information, you can make better decisions,” said Henry DeHart, CEO of the American Camp Association.
As part of the initiative, 10 camps in Hunt and Kerr counties, along with the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department, will receive enhanced weather support ahead of the summer season. That includes site-specific severe weather warnings, alerts delivered through text messages and automated calls, and direct access to AccuWeather meteorologists 24x7x365 for live, immediate, real-time consultation.
The system is designed to better monitor threats such as flash flooding, lightning, high winds, tornadoes and extreme heat, hazards that frequently impact Texas summer camps.
“Reliable, timely weather information is critical for protecting lives and supporting recovery efforts,” Hunt Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief John Barone said. “With AccuWeather’s advanced forecasts and direct access to experts, our team can plan ahead, act faster, and help keep our community safer.”
AccuWeather partnership expands weather preparedness for camps nationwide
While the partnership is focused on the Texas Hill Country, it reflects a growing need for better weather safety at summer camps across the United States.
“Having that accurate site-specific information will help camp professionals to make decisions in the moment so that they can make sure they can adapt quickly to whatever environment’s going on, then they can communicate all this planning to parents, so parents can feel comfortable sending their kids to camp, which is what we want to see,” DeHart said, adding that he hopes more camps nationwide adopt similar tools.
The initiative grew out of direct conversations with local officials and camp operators in the months following the deadly Texas flooding. AccuWeather senior leaders met in person earlier this year with the camp leaders and officials to learn more about their challenges and needs.
“Camp leaders told us that too many times they feel like they’ve had to play meteorologist. They’re experts on running a camp and creating a great experience for kids, a very meaningful experience for their campers, whereas AccuWeather experts are experts on the weather and especially on severe weather,” AccuWeather Senior Vice President and Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.
Now, camps using AccuWeather services can speak directly with meteorologists at any time. “We often answer within one or two rings and provide life-saving information immediately,” Porter said. Porter said this direct access to more detailed, location-specific forecasts greatly improves decision-making and confidence.
“There can be large numbers of false alarms from publicly available warnings, and that’s because they tend to be for broad areas,” Porter said. “The site-specific nature of the warnings that AccuWeather storm warning meteorologists provide are very important in the fact that they can be tuned to the specific location and needs of the camps so that they are able to react to severe weather threats that are relevant to your location.”
Flash flood lessons drive safer future for Texas camps
Summer camps remain a cornerstone of the Texas Hill Country, drawing families from across the state and beyond. For communities still recovering, improving weather awareness and response is now a critical part of keeping campers safe.
“The Texas Hill Country communities have shown extraordinary strength in the face of hardship, and as rebuilding continues, resilience must remain front and center,” Porter said.
As the region rebuilds, leaders say the lessons learned from last summer’s devastating Texas flooding are shaping a more resilient future, one where faster alerts and better forecasts can help save lives.
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