Aerial view of the flooding of the Guadalupe River near Kerrville, Texas, on July 5. The flash flooding killed 25 young girls who were camping at Camp Mystic, two counselors and the camp’s director. On Monday, the families of nine of the flooding victims filed lawsuits against the camp for waiting “too late” to evacuate. Photo via U.S. Coast Guard/UPI | License Photo
The families of nine Camp Mystic campers and counselors who died in severe flooding over the summer in Texas have filed three separate lawsuits against the camp and its owners, alleging gross negligence for waiting until “it was too late.”
The Fourth of July flood, along the Guadalupe River, killed 25 campers, two counselors and the camp’s director.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday in Texas state court, the families accused the all-girls Christian camp of waiting until “it was too late” to evacuate the cabins as the nearby river overflowed its banks where they slept.
“The 1:14 a.m. flash flood warning was the time to begin saving lives,” the lawsuit states, as the families called the deaths “entirely preventable.”
According to the lawsuit, the camp and its director, Richard “Dick” Eastland, who died in the flood, did not begin evacuating campers until more than an hour after the National Weather Service issued its flash flood warning.
“It simply ignored the unmistakable safety threat to its campers and counselors until this tragedy was unavoidable,” according to the families. “And 27 young girls lost their lives.”
The families of five campers — Anna Margaret Bellows, 8, Lila Bonner, 9, Molly DeWitt, 9, Lainey Landry, 9, and Blakely McCrory, 8 — and two counselors — Chloe Childress, 18, and Katherine Ferruzzo, 19 — filed one of the lawsuits Monday. They accused the camp of refusing to accept responsibility for the girls’ deaths.
“Our clients have filed this lawsuit to seek accountability and truth,” one of the families’ attorneys, Paul Yetter, said in a statement. “Camp Mystic failed at its primary job to keep its campers and counselors safe, and young girls died as a result. This action is about transparency, responsibility and ensuring no other family experiences what these parents will now suffer the rest of their lives.”
A second lawsuit was filed by the family of 8-year-old Eloise “Lulu” Peck and a third lawsuit by the family of 9-year-old Ellen Getten. Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages.
“These terrifying last moments and then deaths were proximately caused by the negligence and gross negligence” of the defendants, the families claim in the lawsuit, adding that they “knew that camp facilities were located in a flood zone.”
One month after the flooding tragedy, state lawmakers in Texas passed legislation to enhance safety measures at summer camps, including the installation of early-warning sirens to alert campers in the event of flash flooding.
Camp Mystic announced in September that it would reopen next summer, as families of the girls who died called the move “putting profits over all else.”
“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 are all gone,” the lawsuit states. “And while their families struggle with their loss, the camp’s actions since the tragedy have only deepened that pain.”
In its announcement, Camp Mystic officials said they were moving forward with rebuilding cabins and trails that were damaged or destroyed in the flood, adding “as we work to finalize plans, we will do so in a way that is mindful of those we have lost.”
