Grieving families plea not to reopen camp where 27 children and adults died in a flood

The Texas summer camp where 27 campers and counsellors were killed in a flood last summer is set to reopen this year, outraging grieving parents.

On July 4, 2025, the Guadalupe River rose more than eight metres in less than an hour overnight and devastated the Christian girls’ camp, which was located within the river’s floodplain.

Despite widespread outcry against reopening the place where 27 souls lost their lives, camp directors are preparing for another summer season.

A three-day hearing in Austin was held this week in connection with a lawsuit filed against the camp by parents of a girl who went missing and still hasn’t been found.

The Washington Post obtained a letter from parents begging for the camp to remain closed after the tragedy.

It’s also alleged that camp officials failed to report the deaths of the campers and counsellors to government regulators.

After this week’s hearing, Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble left in place an injunction that prevents the camp owners from altering any structures or land that was affected by the flood.

But the camp is scheduled to reopen in May, if the court rules in its favour. But the areas where campers died, and cabins were flooded, will be closed off to be investigated.

Jennifer and Doug Getten, who lost their nine-year-old daughter Ellen in the floods, wrote in the letter: ‘You must pause the reopening of Camp Mystic until every negligent action taken or not taken by those in charge of caring for her that fateful night can be fully investigated.’

They mentioned their older daughter, Gwynne, who survived the flood but is suffering from severe PTSD and ‘blames herself’ for Ellen’s death.

Ellen and Jorge Toranzo, parents of Greta, 10, who died after trying to evacuate on her own, added: ‘She deserved better from the Camp Mystic operators. She deserved to be cared for and looked after as we trusted the camp with our daughter.’

Edward Eastland, the director of Camp Mystic, told the hearing on Monday that he did not see official warnings issued the day before the storm hit, that staff had no meetings about the pending danger and that they did not make the call to evacuate until it was too late.

Eastland recalled when the water rose, telling the hearing: ‘I grabbed two girls, and there was a third one I didn’t grab.

‘I don’t know who it was, but they put their arms around my neck before we got washed out, and the water came up over my head very quickly. That part of the whole night has been a big blur for me.’

Eastland’s wife, Mary Liz Eastland, who helped direct the camp with her husband, said the conditions were so severe that there were no options to ‘try’.

A lawyer representing the family of another girl who died told Ms Eastland: ‘It is difficult to me to hear that it’s been 34 years that you’ve been there, and you did this little to help save these children that were under your care.’

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