TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — The family of the last missing camper, who died in the catastrophic Hill Country floods, has filed a lawsuit against Camp Mystic.
It’s the fifth lawsuit filed against the camp, after 27 campers and counselors died on the Fourth of July. Loved ones of five campers and two counselors who died at Mystic are represented in the lawsuit, filed a lawsuit back in November in Travis County.
Cile Steward's body was never found, but she is presumed dead in the catatrophic flood seven months ago. The 100-page lawsuit, also filed in Travis County, alleges the Eastland family, who owns the camp, failed to take accountability for not evacuating the camp.
"Their promises of protection were hollow. Their invocations of faith masked a reckless disregard for the lives of the children entrusted to their care," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., the Eastlands moved canoes to higher ground and received a Flash Flood Warning from the National Weather Service at 1:14 a.m.
The Guadalupe River rose to historic levels in the predawn hours of July 4, washing away RVs and tearing homes near the river from their foundations.
The lawsuit states that around 3 a.m., Dick Eastland, who was killed, decided to evacuate only the cabins closest to the river.
It goes on to say that Cile and others in her cabin could hear Camp Director Edward Eastland telling them to “stay put in their cabins until the water got so high they couldn’t stay any longer.”.
The lawsuit says about half an hour later, they were told the water was too high to leave and that it would soon recede.
The Eastlands didn’t consider the camp’s own history of flooding, according to the suit.
"When a business houses, safeguards, and cares for other people's children, it steps into the parents' shoes. The Eastland family would violate that borrowed trust and its heightened duties in every conceivable way," the lawsuit says.
Mikal Watts, an attorney for Camp Mystic, released the following statement:
"We empathize with the families of the campers and counselors and all families in the Hill Country who lost loved ones in the horrific and unprecedented flood of July 4. We are devastated by the deaths of our campers and counselors, and we continue to pray for God to comfort and support their families in their unfathomable grief.
We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and unforeseeable, and that no adequate early warning flood systems existed in the area. We disagree with the misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well. We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course.
In the meantime, we remain proud of the legacy of Camp Mystic and its role in forging strong, young Christian women across Texas and will endeavor to continue that role in the future while focused entirely on implementing a litany of new procedures and new technologies to make Camp Mystic and the community around us safe for all who come in the future."
The Stewards are requesting a jury trial and at least $1,000,000 in damages.
How Texas lawmakers responded
Legislators took up the issue of camp safety and flash flood preparation in a special session this summer, hearing from family members of the Camp Mystic victims before giving final approval to a series of bills aimed at preventing similar tragedies.
Ben Landry, who lost his daughter Lainey at Camp Mystic, testified to lawmakers in August that emergency plans should've already been in place.
"This is an event that was preventable and was caused by years of neglect, ego and complacency," Landry said. "These children were put to sleep in a flood plan with no plan for a flood."
Governor Greg Abbott signed several of those bills into law on Sept. 5, two months after the disaster. They prohibit the cabins in dangerous parts of flood zones and require camp operators to develop detailed emergency plans, train workers, and install and maintain emergency warnings systems.
One newly passed bill allocates $240 million from the state's rainy day fund for disaster relief, a long with money for warning sirens and improved weather forecasting.
About Camp Mystic
The private Christian camp has been around for 99 years, often attended by generations of girls from the same families who sent their children from all across the state.
There were more than 700 girls attending when the floods arrived on July 4. One woman KENS 5 spoke to who attended the camp in the '90s said it helped her grow closer to God.
All across the state these past few months, green ribbons have fluttered on fences, businesses and homes—a sign of solidarity for the Mystic victims.
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