Relatives of victims have filed a lawsuit in Travis County state court in Austin alleging Camp Mystic’s operators failed to protect campers as life-threatening floodwaters approached. The complaint, brought Monday on behalf of relatives of five campers and two teenage counselors who died, seeks more than $1 million in damages but does not specify an exact amount.
The suit alleges camp staff directed a groundskeeper to spend more than an hour removing equipment while girls and counselors in cabins closest to the Guadalupe River were ordered to remain as waters rose. “These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety,” the lawsuit says, further accusing the camp of keeping cabins in flood-prone locations rather than relocating them to avoid expense.
Plaintiffs also contend the camp failed to prepare lawful, safe evacuation plans despite state rules requiring them, and that the camp maintained a policy instructing campers and counselors to stay in cabins during threats. Named defendants include Camp Mystic, affiliated entities and owners, and members of the family and estate of camp owner Richard Eastland, who also died in the flooding. A separate, similar suit was filed Monday by the family of Eloise Peck, another camper killed in the flood.
The deaths occurred in the early hours of July 4 when rapidly rising waters swept through a low-lying section of the century-old camp. Twenty-five girls and two teen counselors were killed at the site. The broader flash flooding that day resulted in at least 136 fatalities. County officials were reportedly asleep or out of town; camp leadership had been monitoring the weather, but it remains unclear whether an urgent National Weather Service warning that triggered an emergency alert reached them.
Camp Mystic, established in 1926, did not evacuate as the Guadalupe River rose from roughly 14 feet to about 29.5 feet in approximately an hour. Telephone and email messages to an attorney for the camp seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Ryan DeWitt, whose daughter Molly DeWitt was among those killed, said the lawsuit is a step toward finding peace. “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 said.
The fatalities and grieving family testimony to Texas lawmakers have since prompted a series of new laws aimed at preventing similar tragedies.