Families of the Texas flood victims who died over the summer filed their first three lawsuits against an all-girls Christian summer camp for wrongful death and gross negligence on Monday.
The litigation comes in response to the July 4 floods that devastated central Texas and killed more than 130 people, including 25 campers and two counselors at Camp Mystic.
The plaintiff families say the tragedy was “entirely preventable,” noting that part of the Guadalupe River on which the camp sits is known for flash flooding and nicknamed “Flash Flood Alley” as a result.
“These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety,” one lawsuit states. “The Camp chose to house young girls in cabins sitting in flood-prone areas, despite the risk, to avoid the cost of relocating the cabins.”
“The Camp chose not to make plans to safely evacuate its campers and counselors from those cabins, despite state rules requiring evacuation plans, and not to spend time and money on safety training and tools,” it adds. “Instead, the Camp chose to assure its campers and counselors that these cabins are built on ‘high, safe locations.’ And the Camp chose to order its campers and counselors, as a matter of policy, to stay in these flood-plain cabins regardless of life-threatening floods.”
A second lawsuit claims Camp Mystic knew about the possible dangers to the cabins in the low-sitting area near the Guadalupe River since July 1932, when a massive flood last hit the camp. The suit notes that although no campers died at the time, they were warned that the outcome could have become deadly if the flooding had occurred at night, as it did this year.
“Since that date, Camp Mystic continued to play Russian Roulette with the lives of the little girls, disregarding what Camp Mystic knew would be an unspeakable tragedy when the flood hit those cabins,” the court document reads.
Similar to the other two, the third lawsuit alleges Camp Mystic did not immediately evacuate the young campers and instead prioritized “saving their tools and equipment” before leading the evacuation.
“Despite these multiple dire warnings, for roughly over an hour as the waters rose over the Flats, Defendants failed to evacuate any helpless campers or counselors, although not without first taking measures to secure lawn equipment and canoes to safe locations,” the suit says.
All three lawsuits were filed in Austin, Texas. Two seek up to $1 million in damages for the emotional distress that the camp inflicted on the victims’ families.
Camp Mystic’s legal counsel, Jeff Ray, said that while he empathizes with the families in their grief, he intends to challenge some of the allegations.
“We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area,” Ray said. “We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well. We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course.”
Owner Richard Eastland died while trying to save some of the campers by loading them into his car. The first lawsuit argues he should have known better than to drive in torrential flood conditions.
Camp Mystic and members of the Eastland family are listed as defendants in the litigation. The camp turns 100 years old next year.
CAMP MYSTIC TO REOPEN PARTIALLY NEXT SUMMER AFTER TEXAS FLOODS KILLED CAMPERS
Camp Mystic is slated to reopen partially in 2026 despite the recent tragedy. A separate part of the camp will welcome back girls next summer, while the portion damaged in July will remain off limits for the time being. The camp faced families’ criticism for the business move.
Camp Mystic’s operators said they “continue to pray for the grieving families and ask for God’s healing and comfort” during this difficult time.