Camp Mystic has asked former campers and staff to assist in its legal defense as the longtime Hill Country summer camp faces multiple lawsuits stemming from the deadly July 4 flash flooding along the Guadalupe River.
According to messages sent to alumni in recent weeks, camp leaders are requesting memories, photographs, and records that could help respond to wrongful death and negligence claims filed by families of victims. The lawsuits follow the flood that killed 27 people, including 25 campers and two counselors, when rapidly rising waters swept through riverside cabins near Hunt, Texas.
In communications reviewed by media outlets, Camp Mystic described the flooding as an unprecedented “1,000-year” event that it says could not have been reasonably anticipated. Attorneys representing victims’ families dispute that claim, arguing the camp failed to take adequate safety precautions despite the region’s long history of flash flooding.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, multiple lawsuits were filed in November accusing Camp Mystic of ignoring flood warnings, housing children in flood-prone cabins, and failing to evacuate campers as water levels rose overnight. Plaintiffs allege the camp lacked sufficient emergency planning and training, while the camp has maintained that conditions escalated with extraordinary speed.
The current legal dispute centers on whether the flood was foreseeable and whether Camp Mystic’s emergency preparedness met reasonable safety standards under Texas law. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings in the hours before the disaster, a key point cited in several of the lawsuits.
Camp Mystic, a Christian girls summer camp founded in 1926, has operated for decades along the Guadalupe River in an area commonly referred to as “Flash Flood Alley.” Court proceedings are ongoing, and no court has yet ruled on the merits of the claims.
