Nov 11, 2025 - Politics & Policy

Families sue Camp Mystic over Texas flood deaths

Rebecca Falconer

A search and rescue volunteer holds a T-shirt and backpack with the words "Camp Mystic" on them in Comfort, Texas on July 6 following deadly flooding in the area. — A search and rescue volunteer holds a T-shirt with the words "Camp Mystic" on it in Comfort, Texas, following the catastrophic flooding. Photo: Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The operators of Camp Mystic are facing three separate lawsuits from families of some of the 27 people who died during Texas' catastrophic July floods.

The big picture: Over 130 people died in the July 4 floods across Central Texas, including 25 campers and two counselors at the private Camp Mystic Christian girls' camp, who've become known as "Heaven's 27."

The three lawsuits that were filed in Austin, Texas, on Monday allege wrongful death and negligence on the part of the operators, who issued a media statement following the filings saying they "continue to pray for the grieving families and ask for God's healing and comfort."

Zoom in: One of the lawsuits filed by the families of five children and two teenage counselors who died in the disaster notes the part of the Guadalupe River on which the camp sits is prone to flash flooding and this occurs so frequently "that the area has become known as 'Flash Flood Alley.'"

"These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety," the suit alleges.
"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 added.
"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 lifethreatening floods."

Another suit filed by the parents of 8-year-old camper Eloise "LuLu" Peck alleged that Camp Mystic had known since July 1932 that "cabins that housed defenseless little girls sat in the bullseye of potential flood waters from the Guadalupe River" and had since then "continued to play Russian Roulette with the lives of the little girls."

A third lawsuit filed by the parents of six campers who died in the flooding accused the operators of "initially focusing first on saving their tools and equipment rather than evacuating eight and nine-year-old girls."

It alleged that despite "multiple dire warnings, for roughly over an hour as the waters rose over the Flats," the operators failed to evacuate people, "although not without first taking measures to secure lawn equipment and canoes to safe locations."

Of note: The suits name as defendants Camp Mystic and members of the Eastland family, which owns the 99-year-old camp.

The camp has said owner Richard Eastland died trying to save campers during the flooding.

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Families sue Camp Mystic over Texas flood deaths

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