DALLAS — The families of seven campers and two counselors who died in the catastrophic flooding that swept through Camp Mystic this summer are suing the Texas camp and its owners, accusing them of gross negligence, according to three lawsuits filed Monday.

One lawsuit was filed by the families of five campers and two counselors who perished in the July 4 tragedy: Anna Margaret Bellows, Lila Bonner, Chloe Childress, Molly DeWitt, Katherine Ferruzzo, Lainey Landry and Blakely McCrory.

A second lawsuit was filed by the family of Eloise “Lulu” Peck, an 8-year-old who also died in the disaster, an attorney for the family said.

The third lawsuit was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ellen Getten.

Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages.

They mark the first legal action taken by victims’ families against the camp since the flooding that claimed their daughters’ lives.

The lawsuits’ defendants include Camp Mystic and members of the Eastland family, which owns the 99-year-old camp in Kerr County, Texas. CNN is reaching out to representatives for Camp Mystic and the Eastland family for their responses to the lawsuits.

More than two dozen campers and staffers – the “Heaven’s 27,” as they are known – died in the predawn hours of July 4 after torrential rainfall caused flash flooding at the century-old summer camp in Texas Hill Country.

Many of the youngest victims were housed in cabins along the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Richard “Dick” Eastland, who co-owned the all-girls Christian camp with his wife, Tweety, died while he was trying to save some of the girls, a family spokesperson has said.

The flooding killed at least 136 people across the region, as parts of the Guadalupe River rose from about 3 feet to almost 30 feet in just 45 minutes.

What the lawsuits allege

The first lawsuit, filed by the families of five campers and two counselors, accuses Camp Mystic of not having adequate safety plans and prioritizing money over safety.

“Today, campers Margaret, Lila, Molly, Lainey, and Blakely should be third graders, and counselors Chloe and Katherine should be freshmen at the University of Texas. They all are gone,” the lawsuit states.

“These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety,” the filing says. “The camp chose to house young girls in cabins sitting in flood-prone areas, despite the risk, to avoid the cost of relocating the cabins. 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.”

The second lawsuit, filed by the family of Eloise “Lulu” Peck, accused Camp Mystic of “gross negligence” by “failing to implement modern safety measures or update its own flood protocols in light of known dangers.”

A third lawsuit was filed by the parents of Ellen, one of the youngest girls at the camp, who was housed at Bubble Inn cabin.

The lawsuit alleges the camp’s directors and owners should have been aware of an emergency response activation in the area ahead of the major flooding and should have been on “high alert.”

The defendants had enough time to evacuate all the campers and prevent injuries and death, the lawsuit alleges.

“The camp’s failure to act led to utter chaos and mass panic,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuits seek a jury trial in Travis County District Court. And they demand compensation for “mental anguish,” among other damages.

The camp responds

“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,” Jeff Ray, legal counsel for Camp Mystic, said in a statement Monday after the lawsuits were filed.

“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,” the statement continued. “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.”

In an interview with CNN last month, Watts addressed some of the questions and concerns that had been raised by families.

He said the first warning came at 1:14 a.m., but “there’s some question as to who got it and who didn’t, because this is a very remote area with limited cell phone coverage.”

At 1:47 a.m., co-owner Dick Eastland and his son Edward “immediately convened the ground crew and started securing equipment, started coming up with a plan at about 2 a.m.,” Watts said.

“At about 2:19, we got the first information that one of the houses was having water coming,” he said.

Before 3 a.m., “there was a very orderly evacuation process of 10 different camps or cabins,” Watts said.

He also challenged the notion that evacuating children during flash flooding is always the best option.

“You shelter in place. That’s first and foremost what you ought to do,” Watts said.

“Do not take 9-year-old girls who weigh 63 pounds on average into raging floodwaters. They’re going to get washed away.”

Anger and grief lead to change

The deaths at Camp Mystic have led to sharp questions from parents and lawmakers about the camp’s safety and evacuation plan in an area known to flood on a regular basis.

“Obvious commonsense safety measures were absent. Protocols that should have been in place were ignored,” said CiCi Williams Steward, the mother of 8-year-old Cile, who remains missing. “She was stolen from her family, from her future, from the world she lit up with her independence and spunk.”

In September, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed tougher camp safety laws that require local governments to install outdoor sirens and warning systems in flood-prone areas.

Last month, the Camp Mystic attorney offered an in-depth timeline of how camp leaders responded to the flood warnings and rising waters. They safely evacuated 166 girls thanks to their quick efforts, Watts said.

“This was an unprecedented, once-in-a-thousand-year event that nobody thought was even possible,” he said. “It’s never happened before.”

Camp Mystic has announced plans to partially reopen this coming summer for its 100th anniversary. The section of the camp close to the Guadalupe River will remain closed. The more recent expansion, which sits uphill and was not damaged in the flooding, will reopen.

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