Camp Mystic announces enhanced safety plans after death of 25 girls, 2 counselors

The owners of an all-girls summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, where 25 campers and two teenage counselors died in catastrophic July 4 flooding, announced plans on Tuesday for new safety upgrades that will be in place when a portion of the camp opens next summer.

Camp Mystic owners said in a letter to parents that they plan to exceed new camp safety laws that were passed by the Legislature and signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott following the devastating floods that killed at least 136 people and washed away homes and vehicles.

“We are preparing for next summer at Camp Mystic Cypress Lake and we know that safety is of the utmost concern to all of you, as it is for us,” the Eastland family wrote in the letter to parents of Camp Mystic campers. “We thank the Heaven’s 27 families and our state leaders for passing legislation to help make camps safer, and it is our goal not only to be in compliance with the new camp safety laws, but to exceed their requirements.”

The children and counselors who died have become known as “Heaven’s 27.” Camp Mystic’s owners include the wife and other family members of Dick Eastland, who also died in the flooding.

The enhanced safety measures at the camp include four flood warning river monitors designed to provide early detection of high-water events, two-way radios in every cabin enabled with national weather alerts and high-capacity generators to maintain power in critical areas of the camp, including its office and dining hall.

“We recognize that returning to Camp Mystic carries both hope and heartache,” the Eastland family said in the letter. “For many of your daughters, this return is not simple, but it is a courageous step in their healing journey.”

The Eastland family announced in September that it planned to build a memorial for the girls who died in the flooding and to reopen Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a separate property that is not adjacent to the Guadalupe River and that sustained no damage in the July 4 floods. That plan drew fierce criticism from some of the victims’ families, who said they were never consulted about Camp Mystic’s plans.

“To promote reopening less than three months after the tragedy — while one camper remains missing — is unthinkable,” CiCi and Will Steward, whose 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward died in the floods and whose body still has not been recovered, wrote to Camp Mystic officials when their reopening plan was first announced.

The families of several of the girls who died in the floods have sued Camp Mystic and the Eastlands in state court, alleging camp operators failed to take necessary steps to protect the campers as life-threatening floodwaters approached.

Camp Mystic plans to offer six separate 10-day sessions in 2026, beginning May 30 and ending Aug. 9. They also plan to offer tours of the camp in April for enrolled campers, counselors and their parents.