The families of 15 victims who died in July amid the flooding at Camp Mystic in Central Texas sued the camp on Monday, accusing it of gross negligence.
One lawsuit, filed by the parents of campers Margaret Bellows, Lila Bonner, Molly DeWitt, Lainey Landry and Blakely McCrory and counselors Chloe Childress and Katherine Ferruzzo in District Court in Travis County, Texas, accuses the Eastland family — the owners of the camp — of protecting camp property over the safety of campers and counselors.
The complaint alleges that the owners, who have helmed the camp since 1939, knew that flash flooding posed a risk to the camp based on its proximity to the Guadalupe River and prior floods in 1932, 1978, 1985 and 1987.
It also says that the camp’s owners did not adequately respond to the National Weather Service’s flash flooding warnings at 1:14 a.m. local time and secured camp equipment instead of warning all campers and counselors to evacuate their cabins.
The floods, which swept through the Texas Hill Country starting in the early morning hours of July 4, killed at least 136 people, including 25 campers and two counselors at Camp Mystic.
The families of campers Virginia Naylor, Hadley Hanna, Virginia Hollis, Jane Hunt, Lucy Dillon and Kellyanne Lytal have also filed a lawsuit against the camp in Travis County. Lawyers for the families confirmed the Monday filing in an email to The Hill.
The families of campers Eloise Peck and Ellen Getten also filed two separate challenges in Travis County.
The lawsuit filed by Peck’s family alleges that the camp received warnings from family members about flood risks and notes that several hard-hit cabins at Camp Mystic were located in a high-risk area, as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The suit, calling the tragedy “predictable and preventable,” said the camp has failed to take responsibility for victims’ death, instead protecting its “reputation and financial interests.”
The complaint filed by the Bellows, Bonner, DeWitt, Landry, McCrory, Childress and Ferruzzo families is seeking $1 million in damages, as does the lawsuit filed by the Peck family.
The Hill has reached out to Mikal Watts, a Texas attorney representing the camp, for comment on the lawsuits. In September, the camp said its Cypress Lake location, but not its Guadalupe River site, will reopen next summer.