Edward Eastland, one of the directors of the ill-fated Camp Mystic for Girls in Hunt, Texas, where 25 campers and two counselors were killed in Tuesday’s 2025 flood, has apologized to the families of the victims. Eastland apologized during the second day of a special legislative hearing where organizers of an all-girls Christian camp were grilled by state lawmakers for a lack of security measures.
I’m sorry: Edward Eastland
“We tried our best that night. It wasn’t enough to save your daughters,” Eastland said, adding that he was very sorry.
The Eastland family owns the 100-year-old camp along the Guadalupe River and proposed reopening it this May for the 2026 summer season.
Eastland said he and his father, Richard Eastland, were at camp that night and that they desperately tried to rescue the girls when they realized heavy rain had caused a raging flood to sweep through the camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River. Richard Eastland died in the flood and Edward only survived after being swept into a tree.
“These girls were our youngest campers and their amazing counselors we watched grow up,” Eastland said. “The world was better when they were in it, and the anger at us for not being able to keep them safe is perfectly reasonable.”
Camp Mystic flood
On July 4, 2025, the camp turned into a place of great tragedy after the devastating floods in Texas. The families of several of the girls, including some who attended Tuesday’s hearing, are suing the camp for negligence.
They claim that the camp was not sufficiently prepared and that the delay in evacuating the girls, despite being warned of the flood, led to the tragedy.
A state judge recently ordered the camp not to alter or repair flood-affected structures to preserve evidence for those lawsuits.
Lack of training, delayed evacuation
Casey Garrett, lead investigator for a special Texas legislative committee looking into the flooding at Camp Mystic, said organizers did not prepare counselors and staff with adequate emergency training, an evacuation plan or emergency preparedness supplies such as life jackets or ladders.
She also said that because of the rushed evacuation, campers were temporarily separated on the slope from the counselors.
Eastlands promise better preparedness
Britt Eastland, Camp Mystic’s other director, acknowledged the mistakes, saying at the hearing that she would dramatically improve counselor training and stage drills for campers to prepare for floods, fires, tornadoes and intruders. Legislative investigators on Monday noted the camp’s previous lack of flood training as a critical issue that contributed to the deaths.
According to the Eastland family, the areas closest to the Guadalupe River will remain closed even if their license is renewed. They also pledged to erect a memorial at the site to honor the 27 lives lost.
