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AUSTIN, Texas — In a poignant legal development, a Texas judge has chosen not to prevent the reopening of Camp Mystic for the upcoming summer season. This decision comes in the wake of a tragic incident last year when devastating floods claimed the lives of 25 young girls and two counselors at the all-girls camp.
Despite a lawsuit filed by the family of one of the victims, District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued an order allowing the camp to operate. However, she mandated that the camp’s owners must not make any changes or demolish the cabins that housed campers during last July’s catastrophic floods. Additionally, the section of the camp closest to the Guadalupe River, where these cabins stood, must remain unused.
The lawsuit was initiated by the family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, whose life was tragically swept away by the torrents, and whose body remains unrecovered. The Stewards sought a temporary injunction to halt the camp’s reopening and stop any construction efforts that could potentially destroy crucial evidence for their legal case. They argue that preserving the site is essential to understanding the disaster and preventing future tragedies.
“Our goal is to safeguard the evidence to ensure that no future campers will ever face such perilous circumstances again,” expressed Will Steward, Cile’s father, to reporters following the court proceedings.
The fatalities occurred when sudden floodwaters surged through a vulnerable area of the camp in the early hours of the Fourth of July. The disaster, which claimed at least 136 lives in total, has sparked widespread concern and raised critical questions about the safety protocols in place at the time.
The camp, established in 1926, did not evacuate and was hit hard when the river rose from 14 feet (4.2 meters) to 29.5 feet (9 meters) within 60 minutes.
“The worst thing you can do is put a bunch of 8-year-olds on a bus and try to drive them out of there. They all would have drowned,” said Mikal Watts, an attorney for Camp Mystic and its family of owners.
In a packed courtroom on Wednesday, family members of the deceased girls wore buttons depicting their images as lawyers for Camp Mystic displayed pictures of trees planted in their memory and architectural renderings of plans to rebuild parts of the camp outside a 1,000-year flood zone.
Attorneys for Camp Mystic have expressed sympathy for the girls’ families but maintained there was little they could have done during the catastrophic flooding that quickly overcame the camp. Pictures of the rising floodwaters were shown in court on Wednesday.
“Nobody had ever seen a prior flood anything like we saw in 2025,” Watts said.
More than 850 campers have already signed up to attend camp this summer, he said.
Edward Eastland, the son of camp owner Richard Eastland, who died in the flooding, testified Wednesday that his mother, his wife, and their children, as well as another staff member, were at a camp house when “the double doors of the house broke open” from floodwaters. They had to break out a separate window to climb out and evacuate to higher ground. All survived.
The camp had security cameras around the campus, Eastland said, but no one was watching the live feed in the middle of the night as the waters rose. When he tried to pull it up about 3 a.m., he wasn’t able to.
The camp’s decision last year to partially open and to construct a memorial on the grounds drew outrage from many of the girls’ families, who are mourning their loved ones and who said they weren’t consulted on the plans.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked Texas regulators not to renew the license for Camp Mystic while the deaths are being investigated and cited legislative probes that are expected to begin in the spring.
Families of several of the girls who died have sued the camp’s operators, arguing that camp officials failed to take necessary steps to protect the campers as life-threatening floodwaters approached.
Murphy reported from Oklahoma City.
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