Following hours of emotional testimony April 28, Texas lawmakers grilled state health officials about why they had not suspended the operating license of a Hill Country summer camp where 25 campers and two counselors died in a July 4 flood.
The families of seven of the girls who died at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp, spoke of their experience identifying their daughters’ bruised bodies, telling lawmakers their deaths “have killed us all.” The parents of girls who were rescued from the flood spoke of their children’s consistent nightmares, survivors’ guilt and lost innocence. The Eastland family, which runs Camp Mystic, acknowledged that they were unprepared for the deadly flood and did not evacuate campers early enough.
“If we have evidence of actions that show neglect, that show disregard for the law, … would that not be enough for an immediate revocation?” Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, asked officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which inspects and licenses youth camps.
What you need to know
DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford said her team was reviewing Camp Mystic’s application for a renewed license and investigating multiple complaints against the camp, noting that the agency did not have the unilateral authority to suspend or revoke a camp’s license.
The state health department is reviewing the licenses of all Texas summer camps after lawmakers passed stricter licensing requirements last summer. All camp licenses are active during the review, Shuford said.
Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican who authored one of two camp safety laws over the summer, said he planned to file a bill during the 2027 legislative session that would allow the DSHS to immediately cancel a camp’s license for on-site deaths, child abandonment or other violations of Texas law.
San Angelo Rep. Drew Darby, who wrote the other camp safety bill, said those rules already exist. Darby said state health officials not only can, but must, suspend Camp Mystic’s license and deny its renewal application based on evidence presented to lawmakers and in court.
“House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 … were passed in direct response to the deaths of 27 children at Camp Mystic,” Darby said April 28. “The Legislature acted with specific intent to establish nonnegotiable safety standards, eliminate agency discretion and ensure no procedural mechanism could be used to keep a dangerous camp operating.”
The laws require that all Texas summer camps develop and annually update comprehensive emergency plans, set up warning systems to notify campers if something is wrong and install ladders so campers can climb on cabin roofs during floods, according to previous Community Impact reporting. Investigators said April 27 that when the Guadalupe River flooded July 4, Camp Mystic did not have a written, posted disaster evacuation plan, which was already required by state law. The camp also did not use an on-site loudspeaker system to order evacuations as floodwaters rose, and counselors did not have access to lifejackets, portable radios or other safety equipment, parents and investigators said.
Nycia Deal, legal counsel for the state health department, said she did not think officials could suspend a camp’s license before ongoing investigations are complete, although she agreed that lawmakers gave the agency “direction to suspend” a license under HB 1.
“The Legislature will support whatever it takes to shut [Camp Mystic] down as soon as possible,” Perry said.
Dozens of families who lost children in the flood attended the majority of the two-day hearing, holding photos of their late daughters and wiping tears as investigators, camp operators and other parents recounted the tragedy. The families left before the state health officials, the final panel, began testifying. Read stories parents told about seven of the girls who died in the flood here.
More details
Britt Eastland, one of Camp Mystic’s directors, told lawmakers April 28 his family was working on a 60-page emergency plan, which would contain detailed evacuation measures and information about safety drills for future camp sessions. The week prior, the DSHS sent a letter to the Eastlands outlining 22 “deficiencies” in that emergency plan, which must meet all state requirements before their license can be renewed.
The issues highlighted in the letter include holes in Camp Mystic’s flood evacuation plan, parent notification system and camper safety trainings, lawmakers said. Camp leaders also told lawmakers that, roughly 10 months after the July 4 flood, they had not yet reported the 27 deaths to the DSHS, which is required by state law. Shuford said the health department was investigating why the girls’ deaths were not reported.
The Eastlands said they planned to reopen Camp Mystic’s Cypress Lake location, which is separate from where the girls died, on May 30.
Richard Eastland, Camp Mystic’s head chef, said April 28 that if the camp’s license was denied, “we’d probably appeal it, but we will not open Cypress if we do not have a license.” Cypress Lake Director Britt Eastland backtracked on his brother’s remarks, telling lawmakers the family “can’t say anything on the record about what we’ll do in that aspect.”
Lawmakers urged Shuford and her staff to take action on the camp’s license now, noting that the Cypress Lake reopening date is fast approaching.
“What are we going to do when the camp season starts and they don’t meet the requirements?” Darby asked.
Parents of flood survivors and girls who died in the flood said they did not trust the Eastlands to keep children safe at either camp location.
“No camp will be safe for any child as long as the Eastlands are associated with it,” said CiCi Steward, whose daughter, Cile, is the only camper still missing after the flood. “If a child dies at a Texas camp this summer, it will not be because we lack the information to prevent it. It will be because we did not act on it.”
Bolton Walters told lawmakers that Camp Mystic should not be allowed to open its Cypress Lake camp on schedule.
“At dropoff on June 29, I firmly told my daughter to fight, to get out of the water, to not rely on adults if she was ever in trouble,” said Walters, whose daughter was dragged out of her cabin by floodwaters and swept about a mile downriver, where she was rescued by a neighboring family.
Walters said Dick Eastland, Camp Mystic’s executive director who died in the flood, told him, “Sir, do not worry. I promise we are going to take very good care of your daughter.”
“That promise was broken,” Walters said April 28.
“Child protection standards mean nothing in Texas if we don’t enforce them,” Walters told lawmakers. “A daycare with 27 dead children and this evidence already on record would have already been closed.”