Parents who lost children during last summer\u2019s Hill Country flood continue asking state regulators to block the reopening of Camp Mystic\u2019s Cypress Lake campus. The state\u2019s submission period for youth camp license applications ends March 31.<\/p>\n
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) licenses and inspects youth camps. The DSHS website states that failure to submit an application by March 31 \u201cwill delay the issuance of your license.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want answers. We want to know what happened to Ellen and to our other daughter, Gwynne,\u201d said Jennifer Getten.<\/p>\n
Ellen Getten, 9, died during the floods. Her sister, Gwynne, survived.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Several Camp Mystic parents ask state to deny license renewal<\/a><\/p>\n The Gettens are among several families suing Camp Mystic over the deaths of 25 campers and two counselors during the July 4 flood. Mystic co-owner Dick Eastland also died while trying to evacuate campers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you allow another adult to take care of your children, they are taking on the biggest responsibility a human being can take on, and they failed us,\u201d said Doug Getten.<\/p>\n The Gettens said Gwynne was excited to show her little sister the ropes at Camp Mystic. Last summer was Ellen\u2019s first time at camp, and she was assigned to the Bubble Inn cabin.<\/p>\n \u201cGwynne tucked her sister in every night at camp. She did on July 3 and said, \u2018I love you,\u2019 and kissed her good night,\u201d said Jennifer Getten.<\/p>\n Gwynne was staying in a different cabin but immediately thought of her sister when the floodwaters began to rise.<\/p>\n \u201cOur older daughter walked by her little sister\u2019s cabin and asked if she could get her sister. As she walked past the cabin, she was told \u2018no,\u2019\u201d Jennifer Getten said.<\/p>\n Jennifer Getten said Gwynne told them that prior to the decision to begin evacuating some cabins, her counselor went to Dick Eastland at 2 a.m. and asked to evacuate but was told to put down towels.<\/p>\n The Gettens and several other families have criticized what they describe as a lack of an evacuation plan at Camp Mystic. According to documents filed as part of lawsuits, the camp\u2019s emergency plans called for campers to stay in their cabins unless instructed otherwise, because the cabins were built on \u201chigh, safe locations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvacuation means to leave to go to safety. You don\u2019t have to be an English major to know that. The plan was to stay in cabins and wait for instruction over a walkie-talkie, which did not exist. The counselors did not have them,\u201d said Doug Getten.<\/p>\n The Gettens said that by 10 a.m. on July 4, they received a 15-second voicemail from a camp representative asking them to call her. Both Doug and Jennifer Getten said there was no sense of urgency in the message.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time we got the call, they already knew children were dead, and we were never told that,\u201d Jennifer Getten said. \u201cWe had no idea. We took the bigger car because we figured we were bringing both of our girls home.\u201d<\/p>\n The Gettens said that when they arrived in Kerr County, they were reunited with Gwynne.<\/p>\n \u201cHer first comment was, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be an only child,\u2019 and she fell to her knees,\u201d said Jennifer Getten.<\/p>\n \u201cThey shared everything together, and they took that from us,\u201d said Doug Getten. \u201cShe asked about every single girl in the Bubble Inn cabin: \u2018Is she dead too?\u2019 \u2018Is she dead too?\u2019 And the answer was yes.\u201d<\/p>\n