Parents sue Camp Mystic over Texas flood deaths

(CN) — The parents of several Camp Mystic campers who lost their lives when catastrophic flooding hit Central Texas earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the camp Monday, claiming it failed to evacuate their daughters and lacked proper emergency protocols.

The Hill Country region of Texas experienced devastating flooding over the July 4 weekend that claimed the lives of more than 130 people. Among these were 25 campers and two counselors at Camp Mystic, a private Christian girls’ camp, as well as the camp’s owner, Dick Eastland.

In a petition filed in Travis County District Court, the parents of six deceased campers between 8 and 9 years old claim the camp failed to protect their daughters from the flooding. The parents say that, although there was safe higher ground available nearby, the camp did not evacuate the cabins containing the youngest campers, resulting in their daughters’ deaths.

“These innocent little girls are unable to express to their parents the terror they experienced as water rose in their cabins, as they desperately tried to keep their heads above the steadily rising water, attempting to escape, and then as they were swept into raging flood waters,” the parents say. “Their parents are left to live every single day for the rest of their lives with the intense grief and the thoughts of what their babies endured that fateful night.”

The parents claim that, although the camp is located in a flood-prone area, it did not have appropriate emergency protocols for floods. The petition shows a photo of what it asserts is a paper found with a camp counselor’s flooded belongings that lists instructions for various emergencies. The section for floods contains only a short paragraph that states campers should remain in their cabins unless instructed otherwise by the camp’s office. The paper states that all of the camp’s cabins are located on “on high, safe ground,” which the parents claim is untrue.

“To instruct children to stay in a cabin with rising flood waters was ultimately a death sentence,” the parents say.

The parents also claim the camp was negligent in other ways, including by locating cabins in areas at high risk of flooding and by failing to appropriately train staff, maintain adequate communication systems and monitor the weather.

“Tragically, due to lack of planning, the absence of any evacuation plans, lack of training, inadequate warning systems and other acts and omissions of recklessness and gross negligence, plaintiffs’ daughters suffered terrifying, brutal, and horrific deaths,” the parents say.

Two additional negligence lawsuits against Camp Mystic were also filed Monday, one by the parents of five deceased campers and two deceased counselors, and the other by the parents of another deceased camper.

Prominent Texas lawyer Mikal Watts announced last month that he would defend Camp Mystic pro bono in any lawsuits resulting from the flooding. Watts has publicly argued that the tragedy was caused by the lack of a siren warning system in the area and that “there is no jury in America that will hold Camp Mystic responsible.”

Watts’ law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuits.

Jeff Ray, legal counsel for Camp Mystic, said in a statement: “We empathize with the families of the campers and counselors and all families in the Hill Country who lost loved ones in the horrific and unprecedented flood of July 4.”

“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. We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well,” he added.