Parents of girls killed in Texas camp flooding say ‘common sense’ measures were absent as lawmakers consider safety bill

(CNN) — Michael McCown sent his 8-year-old daughter Linnie to a summer camp in central Texas trusting she would be safe.

But that trust was tragically broken when Linnie and at least 26 other campers and counselors were killed after a catastrophic flood swept through Camp Mystic on July 4.

On Wednesday, McCown and several other parents of children who were at the nearly century-old camp for girls, which largely sits in a flood-prone area, sat before a Texas state Senate committee and called for stronger safety standards at youth camps in Texas.

“We did not send Linnie to a war zone; we sent her to camp,” said McGown, who remembered his daughter for her gentle, playful manner. “No parent should ever go through what we are living through now.”

It was the first time many of the parents sp