Camp Mystic reportedly waited an hour to evacuate after warnings of 'life-threatening' Texas floods [View all]

Source: The Independent

Monday 14 July 2025 15:06 EDT


The director of Camp Mystic waited more than an hour after receiving a life-threatening flood alert before beginning to evacuate campers asleep in their cabins, his family confirmed through a spokesman.

Executive Director Richard “Dick” Eastland, 70, along with his wife, had been in charge of the beloved all-girls Christian summer camp in Hunt, Texas since the 1980s.

It’s located directly in the flood zone. But when the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Kerr County at 1:14 a.m. on July 4, warning of “life-threatening flash flooding” near the Guadalupe River, little direction was given by the leadership of the camp.

Eastland did not order evacuations until 2:30 a.m., by which time torrential rains were already falling and the river was rapidly rising, according to family spokesman Jeff Carr, as reported by The Washington Post. Instead, the director first used walkie-talkies to coordinate with his family members, many of whom worked at the camp, to “assess the situation.”

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/camp-mystic-weather-alerts-texas-floods-b2788838.html