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The belongings such as blankets and footlockers of campers are taken out of cabins that flooded during devastating July 4 flood at Camp Mystic in Hunt on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.<\/p>\n
Christopher Lee\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
HUNT, TEXAS – JULY 07: Caution tape covers the entrance of Camp Mystic on July 07, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Heavy rainfall early Friday caused severe flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas, leaving more than 100 people reported dead, including children attending the camp. (Photo by Brandon Bell\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Brandon Bell\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The families of six campers and two counselors who died in the July floods at Camp Mystic in Hunt,\u00a0<\/a>west of Kerrville, filed two separate lawsuits suing the the camp and members of the family who own it for negligence and wrongful death.<\/a><\/p>\n The lawsuits, filed Monday in Travis County, allege that camp management knew of the flooding dangers<\/a> and neglected to inform parents of those risks, claiming the deaths of 25 campers and two counselors were preventable.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “There is no greater trust than when a parent entrusts the care of their child to another,” the petition on behalf of the family of 8-year-old Lulu Peck states. “Camp Mystic and the people who ran it betrayed that trust. Camp Mystic\u2019s shocking betrayal of that trust caused the horrific, tragic and needless deaths of twenty-seven innocent young girls, including Eloise ‘Lulu’ Peck. \u00a0This case seeks accountability for that betrayal and to send a message to other camps \u2013 protect the kids in your care.”<\/p>\n The Peck lawsuit names camp owners Dick and\u00a0Tweety Eastland, Camp Mystic, Mystic Camps Family Partnership, Mystic Camps Management and Natural Fountains Properties as defendants.\u00a0Britt Eastland, Dick Eastland’s son, is named in the lawsuit as the Eastland family’s representative; the elder Eastland died in the flooding. The multifamily lawsuit names the same defendants, with the addition of Eastland’s other son, Edward, and his wife Mary Liz.<\/p>\n The multifamily lawsuit comes from the families of Anna Margaret Bellows, Lila Bonner, Chloe Childress, Molly DeWitt, Katherine Ferruzzo, Lainey Landry and Blakely McCrory, who died at Camp Mystic. Childress and Ferruzzo were counselors, while the others were campers.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Mystic, which has been in the Eastland family since 1939, has a history of flooding. The Peck lawsuit outlines three incidents within the last century in which floodwaters prompted evacuations, damaged buildings or swept away personal items and vehicles belonging to Mystic campers and staff.<\/p>\n Both lawsuits claim Mystic knew about these issues but still leveraged appeals to\u00a0FEMA to have the 100-year flood designation removed from some of the buildings at the camp. The Peck lawsuit claims that FEMA amended flood maps in 2013, 2019 and 2020, removing camp-owned structures\u00a0along the Guadalupe River and Cypress Lake from the designated flood zone.<\/p>\n “Camp Mystic\u2019s requests to amend the FEMA map were an attempt to hide this safety risk from the public including the campers and their parents, avoid the requirement to carry flood insurance, lower the camp\u2019s insurance premiums, and pave the way for expanding structures under less costly regulations,” the Peck lawsuit states, alleging the Eastland family and Camp Mystic management put profits over the lives of campers.<\/p>\n The multifamily lawsuit alleges that the Eastland family “changed the structure of the camp’s ownership with the goal of protecting the family’s land while still distributing large sums of money to themselves.” The companies named in the lawsuit (Camp Mystic, LLC and\u00a0Natural Fountains Properties, Inc.) were part of a “web of corporate entities” to separate camp ownership from land ownership, the lawsuit states. The Eastlands also maintained control over cabin location and camp layout, according to the document.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Peck lawsuit alleges that minority shareholders testified in a previous legal dispute that some areas of the camp weren’t suitable for recreation because “it floods.” Those shareholders were members of the\u00a0Eastland family, the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n Camp Mystic’s legal counsel, Jeff Ray, said in a statement: \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,” Ray said. “We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n Camp Mystic issued a separate statement saying, \u201cWe continue to pray for the grieving families and ask for God\u2019s healing and comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Lawyer Mikal Watts,<\/a> who is assisting with Camp Mystic’s legal defense, said in an interview:\u00a0\u201cI believe deep in my heart that they had nothing to do with why those girls, and frankly their patriarch, died, and I\u2019m ready to demonstrate that. I could try this case tomorrow and convince a jury that this camp had nothing to do with why these girls died.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Both lawsuits mention the camp’s emergency preparedness plans and warning systems, as well as those of Kerr County, which have been at the center of many Mystic families’ criticism since the floods. Lawyers for the Peck family argue that Dick Eastland’s seat on the board for the Upper Guadalupe River Authority proves that he knew of the unreliability of the county’s flood warning systems, writing in the Peck family’s petition that Eastland advocated for a new warning system just before the July flood but “did not take any steps to ensure that Camp Mystic had any type of warning system of its own in place for its campers.” The Peck document draws comparisons to the nearby Camp\u00a0Mo-Ranch, which lawyers claim had a better emergency preparedness plan that prevented the deaths of nearly 70 children and adults at the camp.<\/p>\n Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages under Texas’ Wrongful Death Act, citing the mental anguish of the families and the physical and mental pain the victims sustained leading up to their deaths, along with funeral expenses and loss of household services.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the plaintiffs also are asking for a jury trial, noting in the petitions that they wanted the jury to be the ultimate decider of the damage amount.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Peck lawsuit noted that Lulu Peck had an especially large fear of thunderstorms and flooding, writing in her journal in May 2025 that she was “scard [sic] of thunderstorms, darkness, natrl dasters [sic],” alongside a drawing of what appeared to be a wave approaching buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n A photo from Lulu Peck’s journal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy Peck family<\/p>\n “Lulu loved wholly, purely, and without hesitation; a rare and beautiful soul whose absence has left an immeasurable void in the lives of those who loved her most.” the Peck lawsuit states.<\/p>\n Peck, Bellows, Bonner, Landry and DeWitt were campers\u00a0in Bubble Inn, the cabin hardest hit by flooding,<\/a>and Childress and Ferruzzo were their counselors. McCrory was a camper in the Twins cabins.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The multifamily lawsuit walks through what allegedly happened at Camp Mystic in chronological detail, claiming the camp was aware of the risks as early as the afternoon of July 3 and that the camp’s “never evacuate” order also put profit over camper and counselor lives. The lawsuit claims Dick and Edward Eastland told campers and counselors to “stay put because that’s the plan,” and evacuated some cabins to the Rec Hall\u00a0on the grounds\u00a0but not all \u2014 including Bubble Inn and Twins, despite those cabins standing only 300 feet away from the hall.<\/p>\n “The camp has no explanation for why it failed to tell the Bubble Inn and Twins girls to walk to Rec Hall at that same time. It would have saved the lives of 27 young girls,” the lawsuit states, alongside a photo of campers from other cabins walking to safety.<\/p>\n The lawsuit states the bodies of Dick Eastland and multiple campers were\u00a0found the next day not far from camp in a Chevrolet Tahoe that had been swept away by floodwaters. The\u00a0lawsuit claims one counselor witnessed the vehicle washed away and believed all the occupants of Bubble Inn were inside. Everyone in Bubble Inn \u2014 13 campers and two counselors \u2014 died in the flood.<\/p>\n The petition outlines a similar\u00a0situation in the Twins cabins, where Edward Eastland attempted to help bring girls to safety. The lawsuit states he and several campers were swept away and held onto a tree until morning, while other campers floated by and were unable to grab it. A total of 11 campers from the Twins cabins died, including McCrory.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The situation was compounded by the camp’s unclear communication to the families, the multifamily\u00a0lawsuit states. The families allege camp administrators knew multiple campers had died, yet at 11:30 a.m. the next day said their daughters were “unaccounted for.” Families didn’t find out about the deaths until late in the evening, the lawsuit alleges.\u00a0<\/p>\n The multifamily lawsuit states the\u00a0Eastland family has been insensitive in their communications in the months following the deaths. The lawsuit mentions that the Eastlands allegedly used\u00a0the names of Childress and Ferruzzo, the two counselors who died, to recruit counselors for next summer.<\/p>\n In September, Mystic announced the controversial decision to partially reopen<\/a> to campers next summer. Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, the portion of the camp largely undamaged by the flooding, is slated to open for campers in 2026.\u00a0Camp Mystic Guadalupe, where the flooding deaths occurred, will not reopen next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some parents are asking the camp to reconsider its\u00a0plans. CiCi and Will Steward, parents of 8-year-old Cile Steward, <\/a>wrote a letter to the camp asking them to “halt all discussion of reopening and memorials” and “fully confront and account for your role in the events and failures that caused the deaths of our daughters.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Authorities listed Cile Steward as among the flooding victims at Camp Mystic, but her body has not yet been recovered. She’s the only Mystic camper who has not yet been found.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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