Before the floods came, Camp Mystic’s sprawling 700-acre campground was dotted with green-roofed, cobblestone cabins and rows of cypress, live oak and pecan trees. After, bed sheets tangled in broken branches. Muddy clothes, an overturned canoe and other belongings from campers remained.

Two days before deadly Central Texas floods killed at least 27 people at Camp Mystic, a state inspector certified that it had an emergency plan in place and that its cabins and other buildings were safe.