Texas judge declines to close Camp Mystic despite family's request after
last year's floods
[March 05, 2026]
By JIM VERTUNO and SEAN MURPHY
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Wednesday ordered Camp Mystic to
preserve damaged cabins but stopped short of blocking reopening plans
after a family of one of the 25 girls and two counselors who died last
summer sued to keep the camp closed.
The family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who was swept away in the flood
last Fourth of July and whose body still has not been recovered, had
asked District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to prevent the owners from
reopening the facility and to halt any construction while the lawsuit is
pending. Their request for a temporary injunction maintains that any
changes at the camp could destroy evidence needed for their lawsuit.
Gamble ruled that Camp Mystic’s owners must not alter or demolish the
cabins where campers were housed during the floods, and said they must
not use the portion of the camp closest to the Guadalupe River where
those cabins were located.
“What we’re trying to do is preserve the evidence that’s there so that
we can understand, so that future campers will never be put in a
situation like this again," Will Steward, Cile's father, told reporters
after the hearing.
The campers and counselors were killed when the fast-rising floodwaters
roared through a low-lying area of the summer camp before dawn on the
Fourth of July. All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136
people, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
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 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 Wednesday.
“Nobody had every seen a prior flood anything like we saw in 2025,”
Watts said.
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Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley
Landis, File)
More than 850 campers have already signed up to attend camp this
summer, he said. The camp still needs to be approved for a license
by state regulators to operate this summer.
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.
And when pressed about the camp's flood plans, Eastland said he
didn't know if there was anything more detailed than a one-paragraph
slide shown in the hearing. Will and Cici Steward said they don't
believe the camp has adequate safety measures in place to welcome
new campers while they still search for their daughter.
“They didn't have a plan, and they don't have a plan moving
forward,” Cici Steward said.
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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