Camp Mystic Site of Lethal July 4 Floods Files for Bankruptcy

Camp Mystic, the site of last summer’s July 4 flash flood tragedy in Texas’ Hill Country where 25 young girls and two camp counselors were killed, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Multiple other Mystic Camps Family Partnership affiliated entities have filed alongside the camp itself, including Natural Fountains Properties Incorporated, Mystic Camps Family Partnership and Mystic Camps Management, according to the Houston Chronicle.

An investigative committee found that the Kerr County-based camp northwest of San Antonio did not adequately prepare for the floods, did not evacuate campers in advance and did not have emergency plans written down. The lack of set-in-stone plans violated state law, investigators said.

“A plan that existed only in Dick Eastland (the camp director who died in the floods attempting to save campers)’s head is not a plan that satisfied the state’s rules for camps like Camp Mystic,” said Michael Massengale, a former appellate judge and committee investigator, to the outlet on June 18.

The camp applied to reopen for the summer in April before suddenly withdrawing. Bankruptcy filings cited by the outlet indicate that the camp’s assets are valued between $100,000 and $500,000, with its liabilities pegged between $10 million and $50 million.

The camp still faces wrongful death lawsuits, and formally withdrew its application to reopen after protests from families whose daughters were lost to the flash floods. Camp officials acknowledged that Camp Mystic did not have a detailed flood evacuation plan at the time the storm hit.

The report on the Camp Mystic tragedy marked what went wrong at the camp, and how to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future. State Representative Morgan Meyer described future requirements to the outlet, including clear chains of command in crisis situations, a better warning system, serious oversight enforcement, stronger emergency planning requirements and regular disaster drills.

Last summer’s Texas floods were massive. A Realtor.com analysis states that over 38,000 homes were in the direct path of the flooding, and FEMA responses were organized for six affected counties. In total, the flooding killed at least 89 across Central Texas.

— Hunter Cooke