The families of thirteen young campers and two counselors who perished in catastrophic floods at Camp Mystic in Central Texas have filed lawsuits against the camp, accusing its operators of putting "profit over safety" and ignoring desperate pleas to evacuate as waters rose.
Lawsuits Allege Preventable Tragedy
A total of four lawsuits were filed on Tuesday by the grieving families. The legal actions represent the families of campers Eloise Peck, Virginia Naylor, Hadley Hanna, Virgina Hollis, Jane Hunt, Lucy Dillon, Kellyanne Lytal, Ellen Getten, Margaret Bellows, Lila Bonner, Molly DeWitt, Lainey Landry, and Blakely McCrory, along with counselors Chloe Childress and Katherine Ferruzzo.
One of the suits, filed on behalf of seven victims, contends the deaths of 25 campers and two counselors during the July 4 flash flood were entirely preventable. It alleges Camp Mystic leadership made a conscious decision not to safely evacuate, instead instructing those in cabins to "stay put 'because that's the plan'" despite the life-threatening conditions.
A History of Floods and Ignored Warnings
The legal filings detail alleged negligence by the camp's owner and executive director, Richard "Dick" Eastland, and director Edward Eastland, in their response to explicit flash flood warnings. Dick Eastland also lost his life in the disaster.
According to the lawsuit, the camp received alerts from the National Weather Service starting on July 3. A critical warning of "life threatening flash flooding" was issued at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. The suit claims that for more than an hour after this warning, the camp took no protective action for its campers and counselors. Instead, the Eastland family allegedly spent that time trying to protect camp equipment.
The lawsuit emphasizes that the Eastland family, which has owned the camp since 1939, was intimately familiar with the risks, as "flooding has become a defining part of the Camp's history" over its 100-year existence.
Failed Evacuation and Last Moments
The situation escalated around 2:20 a.m. when counselors from the Bug House and Look Inn cabins ran to seek help, reporting water was pouring into their cabin. They were allegedly told to use towels and stay put.
In a final, tragic attempt, Dick Eastland drove his Chevrolet Tahoe to the Bubble Inn cabin at approximately 3:35 a.m., loading 13 campers and two counselors inside. By 3:51 a.m., his vehicle was submerged and had smashed into a tree. Everyone in the vehicle died. The lawsuit labels his decision to drive through the floodwaters as "grossly negligent".
Simultaneously, Edward Eastland went to the Twins cabins, instructing occupants to remain where they were because the waters would recede. The lawsuit describes a harrowing scene where water pressed girls against the cabin ceiling, forcing others to swim out to avoid drowning. Eleven campers from these cabins lost their lives.
The legal documents argue the tragedy was avoidable, noting "Bubble Inn and Twins are only 300 feet from Rec Hall and 70 feet from a nearby hill."
Further allegations reveal the camp had previously taken steps to reduce costs associated with flood risk. Before 2013, two of the flooded cabins were in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, subject to strict regulations. The camp successfully petitioned FEMA to have the cabins removed from this designation in 2013, a move the lawsuit says "did not make the cabins safer" but saved the camp money on insurance and renovations.
In a poignant statement, Ryan DeWitt, father of Molly DeWitt, said the lawsuit is part of honoring his daughter. "We trust that through this process, light will be shed on what happened, and our hope is that justice will pave the way for prevention and much-needed safety reform," he stated.
In response to the lawsuits, Camp Mystic's legal counsel, Jeff Ray, issued a statement expressing empathy for the families but disputing 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.
Despite the ongoing tragedy—with one camper, Cile Steward, still missing—the camp has announced it will reopen this summer. The lawsuit condemns this, stating the camp "refuses to accept any responsibility for its actions and failures to act, defiantly blaming this tragedy on 'an act of God.'"
