Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp in Texas where 28 people died in a catastrophic flood last July, has filed for bankruptcy, according to court records.
In a Chapter 11 filing, submitted Wednesday in the southern district of Texas, the camp’s owners said that the camp’s total debt “exceeds $10m”.
The filing comes several months after Camp Mystic halted plans to reopen this summer, amid mounting outrage and criticism from victims’ families, and state officials. Since the disaster, the camp and its owners have faced intense questioning, scrutiny and criticism from victims’ families and state lawmakers over their response to the devastating 4 July flood, which killed 25 campers, two teenage counselors, and the camp’s owner, Dick Eastland.
Earlier this month, state investigators released a report detailing their first findings on the tragedy. The investigators found that the camp “did not provide adequate training for staff in emergency situations” and lacked adequate “advance emergency planning”.
The report also found that there were at least “39 adults present” at the camp, in addition to the teenager counselors, “who could have been tasked to assist with an orderly flood evacuation” but that “there was no plan for them to do so, and no training that would have prepared them for what to do”.
Several families of victims have filed lawsuits against the camp and the Eastland family, which owned and operated Camp Mystic, accusing them of “gross negligence”.
Across multiple lawsuits, several families have described the tragedy as “entirely preventable” and allege that the camp leaders ignored known flood risks, failed to implement adequate safety procedures, and failed to protect the campers and counselors.
Earlier this year, a Texas judge ordered camp leaders to preserve the damaged cabins and land affected by the flooding while litigation continues.
One lawsuit, filed on behalf of the families of five campers and two counselors who died, accuses the camp of putting “profit over safety” and alleges that it chose to house the campers “in cabins sitting in flood-prone areas, despite the risk” to “avoid the cost” of relocating the cabins.
An attorney for Camp Mystic said in a statement last year that the camp empathizes “with the families of the campers and counselors and all families in the Hill Country who lost loved ones in the horrific and unprecedented flood of [4 July]”.
The attorney said that they intend to “demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of flood waters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area”.
“We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well,” the lawyer added. “We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course.”
