Camp Mystic in Texas withdraws license amid investigation into flooding deaths
Texas’ Camp Mystic will not reopen this summer after floods at the site killed 28 people last July. Officials confirmed Thursday that the camp withdrew its application to the Department of State Health Services to continue operations for 2026.
“The DSHS continues working with the Texas Rangers to investigate Camp Mystic,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. “The results of that investigation will be made public as soon as possible.”
Twenty-five campers, two counselors, and Camp Mystic’s executive director, Dick Eastland, died after a July 4 flood hit the camp, which is located along the Guadalupe River.
“No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July’s tragedy,” the camp said in a statement to USA Today. “Twenty-eight precious lives were lost. We recognize that no statement and no decision can undo that loss or ease the burden carried each day by parents, siblings, loved ones, survivors, first responders and our beautiful Kerr County community.”
Victims’ families sued after the disaster, claiming negligence and lack of emergency planning. Current director Edward Eastland testified at a court hearing on Monday that he missed multiple flood warnings before the tragedy.
Eastland said he relied on weather apps and a local alert system and believed those tools were enough, The Associated Press reported.
At the court hearings, a state investigator detailed how the camp failed to plan and train counselors to evacuate cabins during floods. The evacuation attempts that did happen began too late, the investigator said, according to the Texas Tribune.
In a statement to the publication, CiCi and Will Steward, the parents of Cile, whose body is still missing, said they are “grateful that no child will be placed in the Eastlands’ care this summer.”
They cast doubt, though, that the camp’s decision was out of respect for “our grieving families.”
“We have pled with them to stop since September,” the Stewards said. “It was a calculated exit from a license they were about to lose.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Thursday he hoped the Eastland family would withdraw their application, adding on X that he is “thankful to hear” that they ended up doing so.
“Given the tragic circumstances, this is the correct decision to protect Texas campers and to allow time for all investigations to be completed,” Patrick said.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
