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Holding a handkerchief embroidered with her daughter\u2019s name,\u00a0CiCi Steward listens to testimony along with her husband, Will, during a court hearing in Austin on their lawsuit against Camp Mystic. Their daughter,\u00a0Cile, 8, died in the July 4 flash flood at the camp.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Edward\u00a0Eastland breaks down as he\u2019s comforted by his mother,\u00a0Willetta “Tweety”\u00a0Eastland, right, during a court hearing on a lawsuit over the deadly July 4 flash flood at Camp Mystic. At left is his wife, Mary Liz Eastland. Members of the Eastland clan have run the Hill Country camp for three generations.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble swears in a witness during a hearing in Austin on a lawsuit filed against Camp Mystic over the deadly July 4 flash flood.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
A state district judge in Austin has ordered Camp Mystic and family members who run the Hill Country retreat not to alter, repair or demolish cabins that housed campers and counselors who died in the July 4 Hill Country flood<\/a>.<\/p>\n Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted a new temporary injunction against Camp Mystic on Thursday after listening to three days of emotional testimony about the flash flood that killed 25 girls, two counselors and one of the owners of the century-old Christian summer camp, which sits on the south fork of the\u00a0Guadalupe River 18 miles southwest of\u00a0Kerrville.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n READ MORE: Plan for Camp Mystic reopening exposes deep divide among families<\/a><\/p>\n The judge said Will and\u00a0CiCi Steward of Austin \u2014 the parents of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who died in the disaster \u2014 had demonstrated a probable right to the relief sought in their lawsuit against Camp Mystic and members of the\u00a0Eastland family who own and operate the camp.<\/p>\n \u201cThis finding is supported by facts tending to show that defendants owed a duty of care to Cile Steward and other minor campers, which they breached by operating Camp Mystic in a high-risk zone without adequate flood protections,\u201d Guerra Gamble wrote.<\/p>\n The injunction will remain in place until the Stewards\u2019 lawsuit is resolved or the court instructs otherwise. The judge set a trial date of May 3, 2027, nearly a year earlier than the original date.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n READ MORE: Camp Mystic was not accredited at time of deadly flood. Did it matter?<\/a><\/p>\n In her ruling, the judge said the defendants \u201cpotentially violated\u201d a section of the Texas Administrative Code \u201cby failing to maintain a written evacuation plan or provide documented safety training which supports a finding of negligence per se.\u201d<\/p>\n The section of state law she cited requires Texas youth camps to have a written plan for responding to a disaster, serious accident, epidemic or fatality.<\/p>\n It requires Texas youth camps to have procedures for emergency shelter and for evacuating each occupied building and facility. It also mandates that campers be instructed on what actions to take in the event of a fire, disaster or other incident requiring an evacuation.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The judge wrote that the Stewards would suffer injury before their case goes to trial unless Camp Mystic, the Eastlands and other defendants were immediately barred from conducting certain activities at the camp\u2019s\u00a0Guadalupe River campus, where the flood victims died on July 4.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Camp Mystic asks alumni for helping fighting high-dollar lawsuits<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe threatened harm is imminent because plaintiffs have presented evidence that defendants are presently engaged in material alterations to the Camp Mystic site,\u201d Guerra Gamble wrote. \u201cThe court finds this injury to be irreparable because once this physical evidence is altered or destroyed, it cannot be recreated, and no adequate remedy exists to restore the evidence or eliminate the resulting prejudice to the plaintiffs.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge ordered Camp Mystic, the\u00a0Eastlands and other parties not to alter or demolish a list of cabins that includes Bubble Inn, Twins I and II, Bug House, Look Inn, Hangout, Tumble Inn I and II, Nut Hut, Chatterbox, Wiggle Inn, Giggle Box and Jumble House.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The July 4 flash flood killed 13 campers and two counselors in Bubble Inn, along with 11 campers in the Twins I and II cabin, where Cile Steward had been staying.<\/p>\n Another victim, Greta Toranzo, 10, of Houston, was being evacuated when she went back to Jumble House to retrieve a pillow, according to testimony at\u00a0this week\u2019s hearing. She was overtaken by high water and died.<\/p>\n Also killed in the flood was Richard G. “Dick” Eastland, 70, the family patriarch and a co-owner and co-director of the camp.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Camp Mystic’s chief health officer says she didn’t know about flood alerts<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The injunction forbids the defendants from making any changes to the physical features of the cabins, such as elevations, the locations of communication systems and flood watermark lines.<\/p>\n The defendants also cannot make any changes to Camp Mystic Gaudalupe River\u2019s main office building, recreation hall, dining hall, commissary and other buildings.<\/p>\n The Stewards\u2019 attorneys presented evidence and testimony during the hearing indicating that some of those buildings had already been altered, despite a previous injunction temporarily prohibiting such activities.<\/p>\n Guerra Gamble\u2019s new order prevents the defendants from using Camp Mystic\u00a0Guadalupe River\u2019s cabins and buildings for any camp operations.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It also forbids reshaping the topography, using heavy machinery to modify the terrain surrounding the Bubble Inn and Twins I and II cabins and altering access routes leading from those cabins to higher ground.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n