{"id":264899,"date":"2026-04-24T21:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264899\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:08:10","slug":"camp-mystic-must-undergo-changes-before-it-can-reopen-this-summer-texas-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264899\/","title":{"rendered":"Camp Mystic must undergo changes before it can reopen this summer, Texas officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Camp Mystic, the Texas all-girls camp where 27 died in devastating floods <\/a>last year, must make a slew of changes and revisions in order to reopen this summer, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.<\/p>\n

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Several aspects \u2014 including emergency and parent notification plans \u2014 require attention to \u201cmeet full compliance\u201d before the Central Texas operation can welcome campers this summer, officials said. <\/p>\n

The Texas Department of State Health Services outlined the issues in an emergency plan deficiency letter in response to the camp\u2019s application for a license to reopen. The camp had planned to open its Cypress Lake location, which is nearby but not the same site where the campers died. <\/p>\n

The camp has 45 days to make corrections to its plans and resubmit them to the state health department. <\/p>\n

In a statement Friday, Mystic said it was reviewing the state notice and working closely with DSHS to address the areas outlined. <\/p>\n

“Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our campers, and we hope to continue the nearly century-long mission and ministry of Camp Mystic to provide a Christian camping experience for girls that allows them to grow physically, mentally and spiritually,” it said.<\/p>\n

\"CampCamp Mystic in Hunt, Texas on July 7, 2025. Danielle Villasana \/ The Washington Post via Getty Images file<\/p>\n

Among the shortcomings the state agency noted: a lack of a floodplain location map that outlines the locations of camper cabins; insufficient plans for a designated emergency preparedness coordinator, fire evacuation plans and natural disaster plans. It also cited an insufficient emergency warning system.<\/p>\n

A reoccuring issue the state department noted was a lack of clearly stated staff responsibilities and protocol under emergencies, as well as a lack of clear coordination with local authorities and parent notification.<\/p>\n

The state agency also asked Camp Mystic to include a process to notify parents and guardians if any part of the camp is located within a floodplain.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five girls, two counselors and Camp Mystic\u2019s owner were killed in the July 4 floods in Kerr County. More than 130 people in the region died in the catastrophe triggered by slow-moving thunderstorms that caused the Guadalupe River to overflow its banks.<\/p>\n

Some family members of campers have decried the panned reopening of the camp. In February, the families of nine victims of the Camp Mystic floods sued the state<\/a>, alleging that it failed to enforce a requirement that the camp have an evacuation plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Camp Mystic, the Texas all-girls camp where 27 died in devastating floods last year, must make a slew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-264899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}