Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before rushing waters swept away children and counselors.

Camp Mystic owners successfully appealed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to redesignate some buildings that had been considered part of a flood-hazard zone.

At Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp in Hunt, Texas, where officials are grieving the loss of 27 children and counselors, belongings of the young campers were strewn about the flooded floors of a dormitory, while other items, including a pink backpack and a Camp Mystic T-shirt, were found along the bloated Guadalupe River, photos show.