The Wednesday hearings will represent the first time loved ones of Camp Mystic victims will publicly testify.
SAN ANTONIO — Parents of the 27 girls and staffers who died when floodwaters overwhelmed Camp Mystic the morning of July 4 are set to testify publicly before Texas lawmakers for the first time, according to a coalition representing the victims’ loved ones.
The website for the Campaign for Camp Safety says the group was launched by Camp Mystic families and is “seeking action to ensure all children are safe at camps in Texas moving forward.” A press release from the coalition says campers’ loved ones will appear before the Senate Disaster Preparedness and Flooding Select Committee on Wednesday morning as lawmakers consider a bill to safeguard children’s camps in Texas.
Camp Mystic, the historic 99-year-old retreat based in Hunt, was struck particularly hard when the Guadalupe River rose to historic levels early on Independence Day morning. More than 700 were at the camp that day; among those killed were young girls from all across Texas as well as Mystic’s director, Dick Eastland, who died trying to save campers.
An 8-year-old Camp Mystic girl from Austin, Cile Steward, is one of two flooding victims still unaccounted for in Kerr County, where the flooding killed more than 100 people.
The Texas Legislature is considering flood-related legislation for a second straight special session in Austin. Senate Bill 1, for instance, seeks to comprehensively improve safeguards at camps by requiring emergency plans for natural disasters; prohibiting camps from operating in designated floodplains; and mandating that camps streamline procedures to notify families in case of emergencies.
Similar legislation was advanced by the Texas Senate on Aug. 12. But further progress was stymied as dozens of Texas House Democrats fled the state amid the redistricting fight, breaking quorum and preventing votes from being taken.
SB1 “incorporates significant feedback received from the families of the children lost at Camp Mystic,” according to the bill’s analysis.
“Our children’s lives were cut short because the safeguards in place were not enough,” a Campaign for Camp Safety spokesperson is quoted as saying in a press release. “We are asking lawmakers to make sure no other family ever has to endure the pain we have lived with every day since July 4.”
The committee meets at 10 a.m. Wednesday, which is when the public hearings are scheduled to take place.