Wow, harrowing story and thankfully, a happy outcome. As a parent I simply can't imagine how I'd manage something similar.

Some moron (sorry, but that applies here) wrote the local dead tree paper after the Philmont accident that the Scouts should have never camped where waters could suddenly flood (that part may be true, I'll await the official inquiry) and that "back in the day" they knew well enough to trench around tentsites and that because of environmentalists we no longer take this necessary safety step.

Those must have been some trenches.