Investigators examining the deadly flooding at Camp Mystic say the loss of 27 campers and counselors could have been prevented, pointing to a series of critical safety failures made by the family that operated the camp.
The findings were presented on Monday in Austin, where a team hired by state lawmakers briefed a panel after interviewing nearly 150 people. A final report is expected in May.
According to investigators, the camp — located in a flood-prone area — lacked basic emergency preparedness, including flood training for counselors, evacuation planning and adequate staffing.
Rep. Joe Moody, D–El Paso, reacted to the findings during the hearing.
“This loss of life was preventable. And I don’t know how to process that,” Moody said.
Lead investigator Casey Garrett outlined what she described as key mistakes by the camp-owning family, led by its “patriarch,” Dick Eastland, who also died in the flooding.
At the top of the list: counselors responsible for young campers had never trained for a flooding emergency.
Garrett compared that lack of preparation to standard safety practices elsewhere.
“And if you look at what we’re doing in schools and look at what we have been doing for years with tornado drills and fire drills and active shooter drills. It’s just unthinkable that these girls would have no training,” Garrett said.
Investigators also cited the absence of an evacuation plan, understaffing and assigning the least experienced counselors to the youngest campers.
Sen. Jose Menendez, D–San Antonio, questioned the extent of missing safety measures described in the briefing.
“In the prior slide, you showed there was no drill, no plan, no procedures. There were no radios, no walkies, no phones, no toolkits, no ladders, no lifejackets. And now you’re telling me they were filling counselor slots at the last minute,” Menendez said.
Garrett also described what she called a culture within the camp that discouraged transparency and outside communication.
“There also was a real culture of protecting the bubble,” Garrett said. “Don’t tell the parents that somebody had lice. Don’t tell the parents that an entire cabin had the flu. Like, we’ll handle it.”
Investigators said that culture may have contributed to decisions during the flooding itself. Garrett told lawmakers a “culture of obedience” may have prevented counselors and campers from breaking rules to seek higher ground as waters rapidly rose.
“They said things like, I knew I would be in trouble if I tried to take those girls up on that hill. I knew I would be in trouble if I tried to take those girls out in the lightning. I knew I would be in trouble if I ran to the front office in the dark in the pouring rain,” Garrett said.
Eastland’s family has argued in court that the disaster was so severe that there was little they could have done and that they took all the reasonable steps to protect campers and staff.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.
