Fast-rising waters swept away two cabins next to the Guadalupe River over the July Fourth weekend. The campers who are expected to start arriving in May will bunk on higher ground. Some families say their daughters' return to Camp Mystic will be a key step in their healing. But others who lost their daughters in the floods say the decision to reopen is insensitive.
Patrick Hotze’s three daughters made it home safe from Camp Mystic after July’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors. He attended some of the funerals and says he understands the outrage over the Texas camp’s plan to partially reopen next year.
He also intends to send his girls back.
“My heart is broken for them,” Hotze said of the parents whose girls died, including some he described as close friends. “I think it’s different for each kid and each family.”
Some families say the decision to let their daughters return is a vital step in their own healing from the disaster that is still under scrutiny. The floodwaters that worsened with terrifying quickness during the July Fourth holiday weekend killed at least 117 people in Kerr County alone. Two victims have still not been found, including an 8-year-old Camp Mystic camper.
Some parents of the 27 victims say the decision to reopen is insensitive and that the Eastland family has refused to take responsibility for its failures.
Lawsuits filed by some of the families allege camp operators failed to protect the children and even ordered girls and counselors in the cabins closest to the river to stay inside as floodwaters overwhelmed the property. Hundreds of 911 calls released by authorities this month included a woman who lived a mile downriver and said two of the campers had swept by.
“As parents of children who were killed at Camp Mystic last summer, we are deeply hurt but, sadly, not shocked by yet another insensitive announcement from Camp Mystic focused on enrollment,” the parents of six girls who died said in a public statement this month.
Next year, Texas legislators are set to hold investigative hearings into the tragedy but have shown little appetite to assign blame. Local leaders in Kerr County, including two who were asleep when the waters started rising, remain in their jobs after defending their preparations and evacuation efforts. They are now steering a slow recovery while trying to expedite a new flood warning system before campers return.
“We recognize that returning to Camp Mystic carries both hope and heartache,” Camp Mystic's owners wrote in a letter to families this month. “For many of your daughters, this return is not simple, but it is a courageous step in their healing journey.”
It is unclear how many girls will return when the camp begins enrollment next month, but a spokesperson said there is “strong interest.” The camp's owner, Dick Eastland, died in the flood and his family has vowed to enhance safety measures before reopening, including two-way radios in every cabin and new flood warning river monitors.
