NEED TO KNOW
-
On Monday, Nov. 10, families filed complaints against Camp Mystic and its owners, alleging gross negligence
-
27 young girls and campers died in the July 4 floods in Texas
-
The legal filings alleged that camp leaders valued money over the girls’ safety
Four months after floodwaters brought devastation to Camp Mystic, families of the victims have filed complaints against the camp and its owners, alleging gross negligence.
On Monday, Nov. 10, families of five campers and two counselors initiated a lawsuit in which they claimed that the owners of the all-girls camp valued money over safety, CNN, NBC News and The New York Times reported.
“Today, campers Margaret, Lila, Molly, Lainey, and Blakely should be third graders, and counselors Chloe and Katherine should be freshmen at the University of Texas,” the lawsuit said, according to CNN. “They all are gone.”
The families claim that the organization in Kerr County, Texas, chose to maintain its camps in flood-prone areas and didn’t make appropriate safety plans.
When historic flooding hit in the early morning hours of July 4, the owners had groundskeepers focus on securing camp equipment for over an hour instead of evacuating campers, according to CNN, citing to the complaint.
The camp didn’t evacuate two cabins, the Bubble Inn and Twins, even though other campers had been moved to safer ground about 300 feet away, according to the complaint.
“Instead, the Camp chose to order its campers and counselors to remain in the Bubble Inn and Twins cabins while the flood waters overwhelmed the camp,” according to the outlet, citing the complaint.
“Finally, when it was too late, the Camp made a hopeless ‘rescue’ effort from its self-created disaster,” the legal filing continued.
In total, 25 young campers, two counselors, and Richard “Dick” Eastland, the camp’s 70-year-old executive director, died, according to the outlets. While other camps in Hill Country had to be evacuated, Camp Mystic is the only sleepaway camp in which campers died, the Times reported. More than 130 people were killed in central Texas after the storm caused the Guadalupe River to rise to catastrophic levels.
On Monday, two lawsuits with similar allegations about the lack of safety preparedness were also started, the second by the family of 8-year-old Eloise “Lulu” Peck, and the third by the family of 9-year-old Ellen Getten, according to CNN.
At 1:14 a.m. local time, the National Weather Service issued a warning of life-endangering flooding. Thirty minutes later, Richard and Edward Eastland met and ordered workers to secure equipment, the first complaint claimed, according to the Times. Around 2:20 a.m., counselors asked the two men for help because water was rushing into the cabin closest to the river, but the camp leaders allegedly told the girls to stay put. About 10 minutes later, some occupants in cabins began to evacuate to a big recreation hall close by, with Edward and Richard transporting some girls in their vehicles, according to the complaint reviewed by the Times.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty
A painted broken heart seen near Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas on July 8
After an hour, only five of 11 cabins in the flood area were evacuated, according to the legal filing reviewed by the paper. Some counselors began helping the little girls reach safety on their own, with the defendants giving no instruction to the counselors and campers who reached the second floor of the hall until later that morning, according to the Times.
By approximately 3:51 a.m., the camp’s executive director was in his SUV that was filled with campers from Bubble Inn, a counselor claimed in the complaint. The vehicle was washed away, and no one survived, according to the Times. Lauded by many as a hero following his death, the complaint claims Dick Eastland was “grossly negligent” for trying to transport the girls in his vehicle in such high water, according to the paper.
Camp Mystic’s lawyer, Mikal Watts, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“We empathize with the families of the campers and counselors and all families in the Hill Country who lost loved ones in the horrific and unprecedented flood of July 4,” Jeff Ray, who serves as legal counsel for Camp Mystic, said in a statement to CNN.
“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,” the statement continued, according to the outlet. “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.”
In October, Watts shared more details about the response by leaders of Camp Mystic during those crucial hours, which he said resulted in the safe evacuation of 166 girls, according to CNN.
“This was an unprecedented, once-in-a-thousand-year event, that nobody thought was even possible,” Watts told the outlet. “It’s never happened before.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Following the devastating tragedy, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott passed new camp safety laws under Senate Bill 1, also known as the “Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act,” according to CNN.
“Our girls’ legacy is not that they died in vain,” Blake Bonner, dad of Lila, said during an emotional interview with Jenna Bush Hager, with other grieving parents ahead of the bill’s passing. “Our girls’ legacy is that this again is a catalyst for change.”
This summer, Camp Mystic is set to reopen one of its locations, though Camp Mystic Guadalupe sustained too much damage to reopen for the 2026 summer season.
Read the original article on People
