Nine Camp Mystic families are suing Texas officials after the deaths of their children who died in the July 4 floods last summer.

The lawsuit filed on Monday claims the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) violated their daughters’ “constitutional rights to life and bodily integrity.”

The campers and counselors were swept to their deaths when fast-rising floodwaters of the Guadalupe River roared through the girls’ summer camp in a low-lying area known as flash flood alley. All told, the destructive flooding in Texas on the Fourth of July killed at least 136 people and washed away homes and vehicles.  

DSHS inspection approved camp days before deadly flood, according to lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, DSHS licensed Camp Mystic despite its failure to comply with state law requiring youth camps to maintain a written and posted evacuation plan for each building. They allege the camp’s emergency instructions directed campers to remain in their cabins during a flood, including in cabins that were located in designated flood zones along the Guadalupe River.

The DHS inspected and licensed the nearly 100-year-old camp two days before the flood that killed 27 campers and counselors, the lawsuit states.

The suit alleges that while officials inspected the camp annually, they knowingly licensed the camp despite the absence of a legally required evacuation plan. 

Attorneys Paul Yetter and Richard Mithoff of Houston said that both Camp Mystic and the DSHS officials who licensed the camp despite its failure to maintain the evacuation plan that state law requires are responsible.

“The DSHS officials responsible for licensing youth camps deliberately looked the other way,” Attorney Paul Yetter said in a statement. “While Camp Mystic bears responsibility and is also being sued, state officials knew the camp’s emergency plan lacked a required evacuation component and still licensed it as safe.”

Previously, DSHS regulations required licensed youth camps to maintain a written disaster plan, including evacuation procedures for all occupied buildings and the facility. The lawsuit alleges Camp Mystic had no such evacuation plan and instead instructed campers to stay in cabins during flooding.

The suit claims that by failing to enforce state safety laws, the DSHS officials “consciously and recklessly” endangered the children the laws were designed to protect, violating their constitutional rights.  

Updated 2025 legislation mandates annual approval of evacuation plans, enhanced emergency training, and posting illuminated evacuation routes.  

In September 2025, the camp’s owners announced plans to reopen the Cypress Lake location, which is separate from the part of the camp that flooded in July. The 99-year-old Camp Mystic Guadalupe was too damaged to open this summer, according to the camp.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sent a letter to DSHS on Monday urging the agency not to issue a camp license to Camp Mystic in 2026, saying, “It would be naive to allow Camp Mystic to return to normal operations before all of the facts are known.”

CBS News Texas has reached out to DSHS for comment and is waiting for a response.

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