{"id":616243,"date":"2026-05-01T00:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T00:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/616243\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T00:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T00:09:12","slug":"camp-mystic-will-not-reopen-this-summer-after-flood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/616243\/","title":{"rendered":"Camp Mystic Will Not Reopen This Summer After Flood"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Photo: Brenda Baz\u00e1n\/The Washington Post via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

Camp Mystic<\/a> \u2014 the all-girls Christian summer camp where 28 people were killed in catastrophic flooding<\/a> in July \u2014 will not reopen this summer. In a statement to The Cut, camp administrators said they informed the Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday that the camp was \u201cwithdrawing its application for a summer 2026 camp license.\u201d \u201cNo administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue, and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July\u2019s tragedy,\u201d the camp said.<\/p>\n

In July, 25 campers \u2014 most of whom were 8 and 9 years old \u2014 were killed after flood waters swept through two cabins in a low-lying area of the central-Texas camp. Two teenage counselors also died, as did the camp\u2019s director, Dick Eastland. Following the tragedy, the Eastlands \u2014 the family that owns and runs the camp \u2014 announced in September that they were planning to reopen<\/a> for the summer on May 30, sparking fury from the grieving families.<\/p>\n

A few months later, some of those families sued the camp<\/a> for negligence, accusing Mystic\u2019s administrators of being unprepared to handle a disaster they could have seen coming. One family claimed the camp owners played \u201cRussian roulette with the lives of the little girls,\u201d and that they\u2019d long been aware that some cabins \u201csat in the bull\u2019s-eye of potential flood waters from the Guadalupe River and never said a word about it to trusting parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camp Mystic\u2019s announcement comes after two days of hearings<\/a> at the Texas State Capitol, where lawmakers grilled the Eastlands over their plan to reopen this summer. Several state senators urged the family not to go forward with their plans, with some saying they should never run the camp again. In their statement Thursday, the Eastlands said their decision \u201cis intended to remove any doubt that Camp Mystic has heard the concerns expressed by grieving families, members of the Texas House and Senate investigating committees, and citizens across our state. Respect for those voices requires that we step back now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The camp made its announcement exactly one month before the summer session was scheduled to begin. In the statement, the camp said \u201cover 800 girls\u201d had been expected this summer. The family said they would \u201ccontinue to fully cooperate with all ongoing investigations, comply with every lawful requirement and continue supporting recovery and healing efforts.\u201d \u201cToday is not about camp operations,\u201d they added. \u201cIt is about respect for the families, accountability to the public, and reverence for the memory of the lives lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Brenda Baz\u00e1n\/The Washington Post via Getty Images Camp Mystic \u2014 the all-girls Christian summer camp where 28…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[4253,4869,192,1023,1682,5568,79,60963,1022],"class_list":["post-616243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-crisis","tag-environment","tag-flooding","tag-natural-disasters","tag-power","tag-science","tag-summer-camps","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}