State legislative investigation: Camp Mystic created ‘complacent flood culture’

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

The first findings of a state legislative investigation into the deaths that occurred at Camp Mystic, in Hunt, Texas, last July, were presented in a two-day hearing that began Monday.

The Texas joint Senate and House General Investigating Committee held its first hearing after the legislature mandated an investigation. Former Harris County prosecutor Casey Garrett was hired to lead it, nearly four years after leading an investigation into the Robb Elementary School shooting.

Garrett said the focus was a “factual objective investigation into the flooding event, specifically to investigate Camp Mystic to determine what happened in the hours of the flood and immediate aftermath. We have tried to keep this as objective and factual as we can. This is not about judgment, it’s about change.”

Vice Chair state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said Garrett was picked because she “is brilliant, she is hard-working and she knows how to get to the heart of the matter.”

Last July 4, 25 campers and two counselors died at the camp after they were told to stay in their cabins as flood waters rose. A massive state-led search and recovery operation ensued to find hundreds of missing people after the historic flash flood killed nearly 200 in the Hill Country, with the most killed in Kerr County. Not soon after, state legislative hearings were held and new laws were enacted related to emergency response and camp safety.

More recently, the Texas Rangers launched a criminal investigation into the camp as did the state agency that granted the camp’s license. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has called for the camp not to reopen or be granted a license until the investigations are completed.

Multiple wrongful death lawsuits were filed against the camp and a state agency was sued. In a recent hearing in which the judge again ruled the camp could not destroy evidence and must not tear down any cabins where girls died, tensions flared.

Camp Mystic’s attorney, Thomas Wright, told the attorneys of the Steward family, whose daughter Cile’s remains have never been found, “you’re gonna burn in hell.” After a video of his remarks were published on social media, he later apologized. The Steward’s attorney, Brad Beckworth, asked the judge, “is that the kind of conduct Camp Mystic is responsible for when we are simply asking to preserve evidence?”

Garrett said Camp Mystic owners were cooperative in her investigation so far. She presented written documents and examples of testimony to explain her findings. She played a Youtube video that Dick Eastland, the camp’s late owner, sent in a 2017 email about the flash flood dangers of the region. She also showed a 2018 email he sent to family members and others about flood dangers impacting the camp, including records of flooding and river rises dating to 1900. They indicate the Eastlands were “well aware” of flood dangers, Garrett said.

One email points to a 1932 flood catastrophe that nearly “wiped the Village of Hunt off the map” and three Camp Mystic cabins closest to the river were swept away. It points to 1950s and 1960s floods and a “relentless cycle of infrastructure under siege” from 1960-1977. “During these decades, Kerr County experienced major rises almost annually. Flooding ceased to be a generational anomaly and became a persistent logistical crisis,” it states.

“Flooding and flash flooding was a consistent problem that caused loss of life and property damage” at Camp Mystic and in Kerr County, Garrett said. She pointed to multiple floods impacting the camp, including in 1978, 1984 and 1987.

Staff and campers were used to flooding, Garrett said, noting: “There became a complacent flood culture at Camp Mystic.”

Every camp counselor Garrett said she spoke to said they were not trained in emergency response. “There were no drills of any kind, no evacuation plan, no radios, no walkie talkies, no cell phones, no tool kits, no ladders and no lifejackets” in the cabins, she said. “It is unthinkable that these girls would have no training,” she added.

Those responsible for the youngest campers were only first year counselors, ages 17 and 18. Two counselors who died in the flood had expressed concerns to their parents about the youngest campers not having experienced counselors watching over them, she said.

She also pointed to written camp instructions to counselors for flood response: “Stay in your cabins! You will be informed of proper procedures over the P.A. system. When in doubt – get help! At least one counselor should be in the cabin at all times.”

“There was no way for counselors to comply with these rules,” Garrett said. She also said counselors she interviewed were told by camp owners that a flash flood, “that’s never going to happen.”

She also identified how the camp’s plan did and did not comply with Texas administrative code and went through a timeline of National Weather Service emergency warnings.

Garrett said she personally interviewed witnesses from all over the country, including family members, campers, flood survivors and workers who she says were afraid to assist campers during the flood. Her team also reviewed court documents, transcripts, information from attorneys and went to Camp Mystic multiple times, she said.

The investigation is ongoing and a report is expected to be due to the legislature in May.