One of the directors of Camp Mystic, the private Christian girls' summer camp where 28 people died during last July's flooding in the Hill Country, tearfully apologized to the families of the victims at a legislative hearing on the floods Tuesday.
"I think about the night of the flood every moment of every day. We tried our hardest that night, and it wasn't enough to save your daughters," Edward Eastland said. "We were devastated alongside you. I regret not communicating more with each of you earlier, and I'm so sorry."
Lawmakers questioned the merits of Camp Mystic's application for an operating license on Tuesday.
"I would have thought, after coming out of July of '25, that every 'I', every 'T' — everything on that application would have been pristine with all answers," state Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican, said at the joint hearing of two legislative committees tasked with investigating the flood.
State health officials informed the camp last week that it may not be able to open this summer due to "insufficient" emergency plans. The Eastland family, the camp's owners, testified that they are working on correcting "deficiencies" in the plans.
Perry also pressed the family on some of the activities the camp listed in their application with the state.
"I believe you were referring to the description of activities that was uploaded," Edward Eastland told Perry. "I believe that description of activities was something that we had used years prior. It was a PDF, and it had references to the Guadalupe River, and that was — that was a mistake."
Perry, one of the authors of the Heaven's 27 Camp Safety Act, also called into question the Eastlands' future as operators of the camp.
"Legally, y'all probably get to stay in existence," Perry said. "But I will tell you ... whatever statute tweaks, whatever laws we make or whatever rules we have to devise, y'all will not be an operator next session, next season — if I can have anything to say with that."
Camp Mystic has been owned and operated by the Eastland family since 1939, according to the camp's website.
Edward's wife, Mary Liz Eastland, told lawmakers the family was "willing to take a step back if camp can go on."
"I think that's appropriate and OK, and I'm willing to do that," Mary Liz said.
Lawmakers also heard from the parents of several campers.
Julie Sprunt said her 9-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, was swept nearly a mile downriver from the camp by floodwaters on July 4 before eventually being found clinging onto a tree by strangers.
Sprunt, a former Camp Mystic attendee herself, asked lawmakers not to let the Eastlands reopen the camp.
"Camp Mystic has announced that it plans to reopen this summer and bring 850 girls back — in part, they have said, to help them heal," Sprunt said. "The Eastlands have no training in trauma psychology. They are traumatized and suffering from PTSD themselves, understandably so, they are not equipped to care for traumatized children. ... The camp will be conducting an incredible, dangerous experiment on children."
On Monday, lawmakers heard hours of testimony from investigators who described an attitude of complacency and a lack of emergency preparedness at the camp.
Copyright 2026 KUT News
