Alli Naylor, mother of Wynne Naylor who died at Camp Mystic, listens at a hearing about a temporary restraining order at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. -Credit:Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers, Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
(Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers, Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
A Texas judge has let down dozens of family members of the 27 campers and counselors who were killed in a horrific flooding incident last summer.
The judge has mandated Camp Mystic to maintain the damaged cabins but did not obstruct reopening plans, following a lawsuit filed by a family of one of the 25 girls and two counselors who tragically lost their lives last summer, seeking to keep the camp closed.
The family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who was tragically swept away in the flood last Fourth of July and whose body has yet to be found, had requested District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to bar the owners from reopening the facility and to halt any construction while the lawsuit is ongoing.
Their plea for a temporary injunction argues that any alterations at the camp could obliterate evidence crucial for their lawsuit. Gamble decreed that the owners of Camp Mystic must refrain from modifying or demolishing the cabins where campers were accommodated during the floods, and they must not utilize the part of the camp nearest to the Guadalupe River where those cabins were situated.
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Spectators, including family members of children who died at Camp Mystic, wait for the start of a hearing about a temporary restraining order at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. -Credit:Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers, Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
“What we’re trying to do is preserve the evidence that’s there so that we can understand, so that future campers will never be put in a situation like this again,” Will Steward, Cile’s father, shared with reporters post-hearing.
Camp Mystic owner Tweety Eastland listens at a hearing about a temporary injunction at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. -Credit:Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers, Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
The campers and counselors met their untimely demise when rapidly rising floodwaters surged through a low-lying area of the summer camp before daybreak on the Fourth of July. All in all, the devastating flooding claimed at least 136 lives, prompting questions about how things spiraled so disastrously out of control.
A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, the site of where at least 20 girls went missing after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 5, 2025. -Credit:AFP via Getty Images
The camp, founded in 1926, chose not to evacuate and was severely impacted when the river surged from 14 feet to 29.5 feet in an hour.
“The worst thing you can do is put a bunch of 8-year-olds on a bus and try to drive them out of there. They all would have drowned,” said Mikal Watts, an attorney representing Camp Mystic and its family owners.
In a crowded courtroom on Wednesday, relatives of the deceased girls wore buttons showing their images as Camp Mystic’s legal team presented photographs of memorial trees planted in their honor and architectural plans to relocate portions of the camp beyond a 1,000-year flood zone.
Spectators, including family members of children who died at Camp Mystic, listen at a hearing about a temporary restraining order at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. -Credit:Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers, Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
Camp Mystic’s attorneys have expressed condolences to the girls’ families but argued there was minimal action they could have taken during the catastrophic deluge that rapidly engulfed the facility. Photographs of the surging floodwaters were presented in court Wednesday.
“Nobody had every seen a prior flood anything like we saw in 2025,” Watts said. Over 850 campers have already registered to attend camp this summer, he noted. The camp still requires licensing approval from state regulators to operate this summer.
Edward Eastland, son of the late camp owner Richard Eastland who perished in the flood, testified on Wednesday that his mother, wife, their children and another staff member were in a camp house when “the double doors of the house broke open” due to the floodwaters. They had to smash a separate window to escape and seek higher ground. All of them survived.
Camp Mystic Director Mary Liz Eastland is comforted at a hearing about a temporary injunction at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. -Credit:Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers, Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
Eastland revealed that the camp had security cameras installed around the premises, but no one was monitoring the live feed in the wee hours as the waters surged. When he attempted to access it around 3 a.m., he was unsuccessful.
When questioned about the camp’s flood preparedness plans, Eastland admitted he wasn’t sure if there was anything more comprehensive than a single-paragraph slide presented during the hearing. Will and Cici Steward expressed doubts about the camp’s safety measures, stating they don’t believe the camp is ready to welcome new campers whilst they’re still searching for their daughter.
“They didn’t have a plan, and they don’t have a plan moving forward,” stated Cici Steward. The decision by the camp last year to partially reopen and build a memorial on the site sparked anger from many of the grieving families who lost their girls, claiming they weren’t consulted about the plans.
“We recognize that returning to Camp Mystic carries both hope and heartache,” Camp Mystic’s owners wrote in a letter to families last December. “For many of your daughters, this return is not simple, but it is a courageous step in their healing journey.”
“As parents of children who were killed at Camp Mystic last summer, we are deeply hurt but, sadly, not shocked by yet another insensitive announcement from Camp Mystic focused on enrollment,” the parents of six girls who died said in a public statement in December.
An officer prays with a family as they pick up items at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, July 9, 2025 -Credit:AP
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has requested Texas regulators not to renew Camp Mystic’s license while the deaths are under investigation, citing legislative inquiries expected to commence in the spring.
Several families of the deceased girls have filed lawsuits against the camp’s operators, alleging that camp officials neglected to implement necessary measures to safeguard the campers as deadly floodwaters advanced.