2026年2月16日 / 美国东部时间上午11:04 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
在首次接受电视采访时，19岁的凯瑟琳·费鲁佐（Katherine Ferruzzo）的父母要求“神秘营地”（Camp Mystic）做出改变。他们的女儿正是在去年夏天那场毁灭性洪水中死于该营地。凯瑟琳在“神秘营地”度过了10年时光，是洪水中最后一个被找到的辅导员。洪水导致营地27人死亡，得州丘陵地区另有135多人遇难。
“凯瑟琳死得其所，是一位英雄。她牺牲自己试图拯救那些小女孩，”她的母亲安德里亚·费鲁佐（Andrea Ferruzzo）告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻。
居住在休斯顿的费鲁佐夫妇表示，这场悲剧本可避免。去年独立日周末的暴雨中，洪水上涨，凯瑟琳、她的联合辅导员克洛伊·奇尔德雷斯（Chloe Childress）以及25名营员被洪水卷走。
不到一年后的今天，“神秘营地”正在招收儿童，并计划今年夏天重新开放其两个营地中的一个，新营地选址离河流更远。2月初，这个全女生基督教夏令营遭遇了第五起诉讼——此次诉讼来自8岁露营者西莱·斯图尔特（Cile Steward）的家人，该露营者至今仍下落不明。
休斯顿费鲁佐家壁炉架上摆放着凯瑟琳·费鲁佐的照片。Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
如今，营地受害者家属自称为“天堂27人”（Heaven’s 27），正推动全国性立法以提高营地安全性。去年9月，他们协助通过了一项得州法案，该法案禁止营地建在联邦应急管理局（FEMA）指定的洪泛区，并要求每年进行紧急培训等措施。
“我们知道必须有所改变，否则其他家庭的孩子将把孩子送往营地，最终却只能收到一具装着孩子遗体的袋子，”安德里亚·费鲁佐说。
当费鲁佐夫妇得知“神秘营地”今年夏天将重新开放时，他们感到震惊，称这一决定“非常不尊重人”。
“在我看来，这一切都只是生意，一切照常，”安德里亚说，“他们怎么能在没有解决导致悲剧发生的所有问题的情况下，就准备重新接收营员呢？”
营地主任布里特·伊斯特兰（Britt Eastland）对重新开放计划表示：“如果我们正确执行，女孩们将拥有难忘的经历。”他补充道：“她们在一起会收获很多，这对治愈伤痛很有帮助。”伊斯特兰的父亲理查德·“迪克”·伊斯特兰（Richard “Dick” Eastland）是洪水期间的营地主任，在试图将儿童转移到安全地带时也死于这场灾难。
瓜达卢佩河沿岸将修建约100个洪水警报器，以便在水位上涨时提前通知人们疏散。
“警报器是个好的开始，”凯瑟琳的父亲约翰·费鲁佐（John Ferruzzo）说，“但之后必须有疏散计划。辅导员必须接受如何应对露营者的培训，还需要沟通系统。”
为了将悲痛转化为行动，费鲁佐夫妇成立了以女儿命名的“凯瑟琳·费鲁佐遗产基金会”（Katherine Ferruzzo Legacy Foundation）。他们已为特殊教育筹集了超过100万美元，这是凯瑟琳最关心的事业。
灾难发生前，凯瑟琳原计划在得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校开始大一学业，攻读特殊教育专业，之后希望回到休斯顿成为一名教师。
该基金会为特殊教育教师报销自付费用，因为他们的教室资源通常比其他教室少。志愿者定期制作感官任务工具包——为残疾学生设计的学习工具，这类工具在普通教室中通常价值超过1000美元。
“凯瑟琳是实干家，她希望我们继续努力，完成她未竟的事业，”她的父亲说。
“在这场可怕的悲痛中，做凯瑟琳会做的事，这就是我每天起床的动力，”她的母亲补充道，“传播凯瑟琳的名字和她的遗产，让她为我们感到骄傲……至少这给了我们一个‘为何会发生这一切’的意义。”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/parents-counselor-died-a-hero-in-camp-mystic-texas-flood/
Parents of Camp Mystic counselor speak out after her death in Texas floods: “She gave her life trying to save those little girls”
February 16, 2026 / 11:04 AM EST / CBS News
In their first television interview, the parents of 19-year-old Katherine Ferruzzo are demanding changes from Camp Mystic, where their daughter died in last summer’s devastating floods. Katherine had attended Camp Mystic for 10 years and was the last counselor to be found after the flooding that killed 27 at the camp and more than 135 people across the Texas Hill Country.
“Katherine died a hero. She gave her life trying to save those little girls,” her mother, Andrea Ferruzzo, told CBS News.
The Ferruzzos, who live in Houston, say the tragedy was preventable. Katherine, her co-counselor Chloe Childress, and 25 campers were among those swept away as the flood waters rose during a torrential storm last Fourth of July weekend.
Less than a year later, Camp Mystic is enrolling children with plans to reopen one of its two campuses, farther from the river, this summer. In early February, the all-girls Christian summer camp was slapped with its fifth lawsuit — this one from the family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, a camper who has yet to be found.
Photographs of Katherine Ferruzzo are displayed on a mantle at her family’s home in Houston. Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
Now, the camp victims’ families — calling themselves “Heaven’s 27” — are pushing for legislation to make camps safer nationwide. In September, they helped pass a bill in Texas that prohibits camps in FEMA-designated floodplains and requires annual emergency training, among other measures.
“We knew that change had to happen so that no other families send their children to camp only to have their child returned in a body bag,” Andrea Ferruzzo said.
When the Ferruzzos learned Camp Mystic was reopening this summer, they were shocked, calling the decision “very disrespectful.”
“It just seems to me like it’s all just business, business as usual,” Andrea said. “How could they be ready to accept campers back to their camp without addressing all of the issues that led to the tragedy?”
Camp director Britt Eastland has said of the reopening plans, “If we do it right, then the girls will have an amazing experience,” adding, “They’ll gain so much by being together. It can be very healing.” Eastland’s father, Richard “Dick” Eastland, was the camp director during the floods and also died in the disaster as he attempted to move children to safety.
About 100 flood warning sirens will be built along the Guadalupe River, which will give people more notice to evacuate in the event of rising water.
“The sirens are a good start,” John Ferruzzo, Katherine’s father, said. “But then, you must have an evacuation plan in place. The counselors have to be trained on what to do with their campers. There needs to be a communication system.”
To turn their pain into purpose, the Ferruzzos started an organization to honor their daughter, calling it the Katherine Ferruzzo Legacy Foundation. They have since raised more than $1 million for special education, the cause Katherine cared most about.
Before the disaster, Katherine had been planning to start her freshman year at the University of Texas in Austin to study special education and then hoped to return to Houston as a teacher.
The foundation reimburses special education teachers for out-of-pocket costs, since their classrooms often have fewer resources than others. Volunteers regularly create sensory task kits — learning tools for students with disabilities that usually cost classrooms more than $1,000.
“Katherine was a doer, and she would want us to power through and do the work,” her father said.
“Amidst this horrific grief, doing what (Katherine) would, that’s what gets me up and out of bed every day,” her mother added. “To spread Katherine’s name and her legacy and to make her proud of us … at least gives us a purpose of why this happened.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/parents-counselor-died-a-hero-in-camp-mystic-texas-flood/
发表回复