Topic analysis

Camp Mystic director says ‘we tried our hardest’ in deadly flood: ‘It wasn’t enough to save your daughters’

Edward Eastland, a director of Texas’ all-girls Christian Camp Mystic, tearfully apologized to families of the 27 victims (25 campers and two counselors) who died in a 2025 flash flood, telling a joint Texas House and Senate investigative panel that the camp tried its hardest but failed to save the girls. The panel has highlighted missed flood warnings, lack of a proper evacuation plan, and inadequate emergency preparedness at the camp; while the Eastland family plans to reopen parts of the camp in late May with improved safety measures, victim families oppose the move, and state regulators recently cited 22 deficiencies in the camp’s emergency plan.