One year after Camp Mystic flood, families demand safety reforms

The July 4, 2025 flood at Camp Mystic killed 25 campers, two counselors and the camp's executive director, Dick Eastland, who died while trying to rescue campers.

Families of the 27 people killed at Camp Mystic are still asking why the Texas girls' camp did not have a state-required written emergency plan or adequate evacuation measures when floodwater rushed in from the Guadalupe River. It was part of a broader Central Texas disaster that left more than 130 people dead, and state investigators concluded that cascading failures, including communication lapses between state and local authorities and poor evacuation instruction for counselors, helped turn a fast-moving flood into a mass-casualty event.

As the one-year mark approached, families kept up pressure through the Campaign for Camp Safety, also called the Heaven's 27 coalition. Matthew Childress, whose 18-year-old daughter Chloe died, and Ryan DeWitt, whose 9-year-old daughter Molly died, said they are still pushing for improved summer camp safety and want the truth about what happened before, during and after the flood so other families do not experience the same loss.

Those families met with state leaders in 2025 and called for camps to move structures away from flood-prone areas, monitor emergency alerts around the clock, adopt standardized evacuation plans and hold mandatory drills. Abbott signed the Heaven's 27 Camp Safety Act and the Youth CAMPER Act on Sept. 5, 2025, along with House Bill 1, Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 3.

A final state report released in June 2026 found lawmakers had already passed laws addressing all but one of the investigation's deficiencies, even as Camp Mystic withdrew its application to reopen for summer 2026 and state officials reviewed its operating license amid continuing investigations and lawsuits. In Kerr County, residents have also pressed for broader warning systems; there was no outdoor flood siren network in place when the river rose.