The households of a number of campers and two counselors at Camp Mystic who died within the devastating flash flood in Texas in July are suing the camp, alleging gross negligence and reckless disregard for security led to a “self-created catastrophe” that claimed the lives of 28 individuals whole.
The Fourth of July flood wiped out the Christian all-girls sleepaway camp positioned alongside the Guadalupe River, which quickly rose in a single day whereas campers had been sleeping. Twenty-five campers, two counselors and the camp’s director died after flood waters inundated the camp, trapping many of their cabins.
A search and rescue crew seems for individuals alongside the Guadalupe River close to a broken constructing at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, July 7, 2025, following extreme flash flooding that occurred through the July 4 vacation weekend.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP through Getty Pictures
One in all three lawsuits filed Monday consists of the households of 5 campers — Anna Margaret Bellows, 8; Lila Bonner, 9; Molly DeWitt, 9; Lainey Landry, 9; and Blakely McCrory, 8 — and the 2 counselors who died — Chloe Childress, 18, and Katherine Ferruzzo, 19 — as plaintiffs.
“As we speak, campers Margaret, Lila, Molly, Lainey, and Blakely ought to be third graders, and counselors Chloe and Katherine ought to be freshmen on the College of Texas. All of them are gone,” the petition said. “And whereas their households battle with their loss, the Camp’s actions for the reason that tragedy have solely deepened the ache.”
Among the many actions, the lawsuit cites the current announcement that Camp Mystic will partially reopen one in all its sister websites subsequent summer time and continues to judge plans to rebuild the Guadalupe River location.
“And thru all of it, the Camp refuses to simply accept any accountability for its actions and failures to behave, defiantly blaming this tragedy on ‘an act of God’ that no accountable steps might have prevented,” the lawsuit alleged.
The lawsuit claims that the camp officers “centered on income over security,” made “catastrophic selections regarding the cabin places” and had unsafe insurance policies concerning floods, together with an alleged “by no means evacuate” order.
The households are searching for greater than $1 million in damages, based on the petition.
“Our shoppers have filed this lawsuit to hunt accountability and reality,” one of many households’ attorneys, Paul Yetter, mentioned in an announcement. “Camp Mystic failed at its main job to maintain its campers and counselors secure, and younger ladies died in consequence. This motion is about transparency, accountability and making certain no different household experiences what these mother and father will now undergo the remainder of their lives.”
A view within a cabin at Camp Mystic, the location of the place ladies went lacking after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, July 5, 2025.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP through Getty Pictures
The second lawsuit in opposition to Camp Mystic was filed by the mother and father of 8-year-old camper Eloise “LuLu” Peck.
The lawsuit alleged that the campers and counselors had been killed “after, predictably, the river quickly rose, and floodwaters swept by means of what Camp Mystic knew was a weak and low-lying space of the Camp.”
“Lulu Peck was amongst these horrifically swept away and killed,” it continued.
The lawsuit alleged that “these terrifying final moments after which deaths had been proximately brought on by the negligence and gross negligence” of the defendants, claiming they “knew that Camp services had been positioned in a flood zone, knew of the historical past of flash flooding in Kerr County, knew of repeated prior flood occasions on the Camp, and acquired warnings from relations about flood danger.”
The third lawsuit was filed in opposition to Camp Mystic and associated entities on Monday by the daddy of Ellen Getten, a 9-year-old camper who died on July 4.
The swimsuit names two further defendants that weren’t listed within the multifamily or Peck household fits: William Neely Bonner III and Seaborn Stacy Eastland.
All three lawsuits are searching for at the very least $1 million in damages.
In an announcement to ABC Information, Camp Mystic mentioned, “We proceed to hope for the grieving households and ask for God’s therapeutic and luxury.”
Jeff Ray, authorized counsel for Camp Mystic, mentioned in an announcement, “We intend to show and show that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any earlier flood within the space by a number of magnitudes, that it was sudden and that no ample warning methods existed within the space.”
“We disagree with a number of accusations and misinformation within the authorized filings concerning the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who misplaced his life as effectively. We are going to completely reply to those accusations in the end,” Ray added.
Not less than 138 individuals had been killed in flash flooding throughout the Hill Nation area, together with 117 in Kerr County, officers mentioned.
Officers in hard-hit Kerr County, the place Camp Mystic is positioned, mentioned that greater than 12 inches of rain fell in below 6 hours, and that the Guadalupe River rose greater than 20 ft per hour through the storm.
Rules concerning the event of summer time camps in an space referred to as “Flash Flood Alley” and flash-flood warning methods got here below scrutiny following the catastrophe.
The disaster prompted the state to move laws aimed toward enhancing security measures at summer time camps and create a grant program to assist the set up of early-warning sirens in areas susceptible to flash flooding.
In September, Camp Mystic introduced plans to reopen one website of its summer time camp subsequent 12 months. The summer time program officers mentioned that Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a sister website that opened in 2020, might be open in summer time 2026, whereas Camp Mystic Guadalupe River won’t be able to reopen by then as a result of devastating harm sustained earlier this 12 months.
“The guts of Camp Mystic has by no means stopped beating, since you are Mystic. We’re not solely rebuilding cabins and trails, but additionally a spot the place laughter, friendship and religious progress will proceed to flourish,” camp officers mentioned on the time. “As we work to finalize plans, we are going to achieve this in a means that’s conscious of these we now have misplaced. You’re all a part of the mission and the ministry of Camp Mystic. You imply the world to us, and we look ahead to welcoming you again contained in the inexperienced gates.”
