Camp Mystic victim’s family sues owner, alleging negligence
After flooding killed 27 people at Camp Mystic, the families of the victims are suing, alleging negligence and a lack of emergency planning.
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The families of nine Camp Mystic campers and counselors who died in the devastating floods that hit central Texas in 2025 are suing health officials for failing to implement evacuation plans required by state law.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, Feb. 23, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, accuses Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) officials of intentionally failing to follow state law and depriving victims of their “constitutional right to life and bodily integrity.” The family is seeking general damages, compensatory damages and “all other equitable relief.”
The lawsuit was filed against six DSHS employees, including Secretary Jennifer Shuford, Timothy H. Stevenson, Jeffrey Adam Buke, Annabelle Dillard, Lindsey Eudy, and Maricela Torres Zamarripa. The officials were involved in overseeing and inspecting youth camps in Texas.
The complaint alleges that DSHS allowed Camp Mystic to be used even though the camp, a Christian women’s camp on the edge of the Guadalupe River, did not have an evacuation plan as required by state and camp safety regulations. According to the complaint, youth camps are required to post a written emergency plan in each cabin.
But the lawsuit says 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic died on July 4, 2025, because “the camp had no plan to evacuate the riverside cabin where the girls were sleeping.” The camp’s emergency policy instructs campers not to evacuate during floods, which “delayed the removal of the girls to safety until it was too late,” according to the complaint.
“On July 4th of last year, flooding occurred and inevitably caused chaos. The camp had no plan, and young campers and counselors were killed,” the complaint adds. “Camp is at fault, but so are the state officials who helped create this intolerable endangerment of life by directing and enforcing policies that do not comply with Texas law.”
Camp Mystic has come under intense scrutiny for its actions since the devastating flood, including announcing plans to reopen even though one victim of the disaster remains missing. On Monday, February 23, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick asked the department not to issue Camp Mystic a camping license for 2026.
The department did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on Monday, February 23.
According to the lawsuit, the Texas State Health Inspectorate reported that Camp Mystic had developed an emergency plan.
In the early morning hours of July 4, 2025, dozens of girls at the historic camp were swept away by floods caused by relentless rains that overwhelmed the Guadalupe River.
The camp was established in 1926 and occupies a number of buildings, including several cabins located within 70 feet of the river, according to the complaint. The area is prone to deadly flooding because it is located in a low-lying area known as a “flash channel,” the lawsuit states.
A total of 27 campers and counselors died in the flooding at Camp Mystic. The camp’s owner and director, Richard “Dick” Eastland, also reportedly died in the flood while trying to rescue campers.
According to the complaint, DSHS has been responsible for overseeing camps in Texas for more than 20 years. The department’s youth camp program “licenses, inspects, provides support and education, and enforces regulations and laws related to youth camps,” the complaint states.
The complaint alleges that while DSHS officials evaluate the camp annually, the department’s inspectors “systematically ignored necessary safety regulations” and failed to verify that the camp actually had a plan in place to evacuate campers in the event of a disaster, as required by state law.
The complaint further alleges that authorities allowed Camp Mystic to be used even though the camp had no evacuation plan.
The complaint also states that DSHS Inspector Torres Zamarripa reported that the camp had a written disaster plan in place about a year before the flood. She visited the camp for an annual inspection two days before the flood and issued a report two days after the incident, reiterating that the camp required an emergency plan and that there were no violations, according to the complaint.
“DSHS officials secretly decided not to enforce this requirement. For at least a decade, they allowed camping on the banks of the river in the heart of the ‘Flash Channel’ without an evacuation plan,” the complaint states. “In fact, officials were aware that the camp had an anti-evacuation plan, or a ‘stand by’ policy.”
Camp Mystic faces intense scrutiny over reopening plan
Last September, Camp Mystic announced plans to reopen nearby with enhanced safety measures, including river monitors for flood warnings, cabin speakers and high-capacity generators to help maintain communication with emergency personnel.
“As we prepare for next summer at Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, we know that safety is as much of a concern for you as it is for us,” the statement said.
The camp plans to reopen in late May 2026, with six periods of 10 days each until early August. The site where campers will be accepted is about 500 meters from the area destroyed by the floods.
Camp’s announcement drew widespread criticism, including from the parents of one of the victims, Cecilia “Cillie” Steward. Cecilia “Cillie” Steward is the only child left missing and presumed dead after the flood. The 8-year-old girl’s parents, CiCi and Will Steward, are suing the camp, members of the Eastland family that has operated it for decades, and other owners.
CiCi and Will Steward said in a statement earlier this month through their attorneys at the Austin, Texas-based law firm of Nix Patterson, “Cillie was taken from us seven months ago, and while we recognize this lawsuit will not bring her back, we feel we must ensure that the truth of Camp Mystic’s failures is exposed.”
Steward’s lawsuit is the latest to be filed over the death of a camper. In November 2025, a group of families of other deceased campers also filed suit for negligence.
Texas lieutenant governor says camps should not be licensed for 2026 season
In a letter to DSHS on Monday, Feb. 23, Patrick asked state officials to delay Camp Mystic’s license renewal for the 2026 summer camping season. The letter was shared on social media hours after nine families filed a lawsuit against officials.
“I am aware that Camp Mystic is soliciting and accepting applications for the summer 2026 camping season,” Patrick wrote in the letter. “Twenty-eight lives have been taken and Camp Mystic should not be issued a camping license until these deaths are investigated and the necessary corrective actions are taken to ensure this never happens again.”
The lieutenant governor noted that the Texas Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to hold joint investigative hearings on deadly spring flooding. The state Senate will create a flood investigation committee to “gather the facts regarding this significant loss of life at Camp Mystic,” Patrick said.
“We are hopeful that once these facts are known, necessary corrective actions may be taken by Camp Mystic to ensure that future campers and counselors are safe and do not lose their lives,” Patrick added. “It would be naive to allow Camp Mystic to return to normal operations before all the facts are known. Camp Mystic should have made its own decision to close this summer. However, it appears they are planning on opening the camp in 2026 and will seek approval to operate with a renewed license.”
Contributing authors: Mark Ramirez and Janine Santucci, USA TODAY. Reuters
