AUSTIN, Texas – A state lawmaker suggested a scenario in which Camp Mystic could open, but without the Eastland family involved in running the business during the second open meeting on Tuesday in Austin.
Camp Mystic is currently owned by Tweety Eastland, the wife of Dick Eastland, who died during the July 4 floods, but her children run the camp business.
The Eastland family spoke to the Committee during the open meeting on the July 2025 flooding events, following critical testimony from a criminal attorney on Monday.
Edward Eastland, co-director of Camp Mystic, choked up a few times as he apologized to families impacted by the tragic Hill Country floods that killed 27 campers during his emotional opening testimony of the hearing.
Many of the families affected were in the courtroom.
In Monday’s hearing, Criminal Attorney Casey Garrett testified to lawmakers that the owners of Camp Mystic, the Eastland family, knew the campground was flood-prone and that ownership had created a culture that celebrated flooding.
Edward Eastland believed their actions were reasonable based on the family’s previous experience with floods that occurred on Camp Mystic.
Garrett laid out many flaws in the camp’s emergency procedures before the committee on Monday, and they were discussed for much of Tuesday’s hearing.
Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), a member of the flood committee, questioned the Eastland family’s application to renew the Camp Mystic state license and directly asked Edward Eastland to explain why they thought it was OK, less than a year after the flood, to have an application with “27 deficiencies.”
“I would’ve thought after July that everything on that application would’ve been pristine,” Perry said.
Edward’s brother, Britt Eastland, testified that the corrections have been fixed and that a new application will be submitted soon.
Camp improvements
The criminal attorney was tasked with investigating solely Camp Mystic because it is applying to reopen, State Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) told TheTXLoop last week.
In years past, at least three college-aged counselors would be in cabins at Camp Mystic, taking care of young girls, some as young as 8. During the July 4 floods, Garrett said some cabins only had two.
Co-Director of Camp Mystic and wife of Edward Eastland, Mary Liz Eastland, said, “I didn’t have a hard time finding counselors for our second term. It was our most popular term.”
The deadly flood that killed 27 people in campgrounds occurred during the second term.
Garrett said none of the counselors received any training to handle dangerous situations.
“Every single person that I’ve spoken with that are former (and) current counselors, said there was never real training,” Garrett said.
Britt Eastland followed up on Garrett’s Monday testimony by providing a list of improvements they plan to make to put the young counselors in a better position to serve as caretakers to those girls.
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Two generators that provide power to communicate with emergency personnel
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All cabins will have walkie-talkies
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Staff given extensive training on evacuations for flood, fire, tornado and intruders
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Counselors will be required to come a day and a half before the camp starts for training
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Conduct safety drills for campers and staff within the first 48 hours
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24 hour security at all times
Britt Eastland estimated an accumulation of $3 million to $4 million earned in revenue during the camp’s duration and said the money would be used for those improvements.
Perry said he had no problem with Camp Mystic reopening, but suggested the possibility that the Eastland family isn’t involved at all.
“Y’all will not be an operator next session (or) next season if I can have anything to say with that,” Perry said.
Camp Mystic is currently seeking approval to reopen this summer.
However, last week the Texas Department of State Health Services gave the camp 45 days to correct its emergency plans after finding deficiencies across 22 separate categories in its current safety procedures.
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