Camp Mystic, where 28 people died in catastrophic flooding last year, said on Thursday that it would not reopen this summer, just weeks before it had been set to welcome hundreds of campers.
In a statement, the camp said that it had informed the Texas Department of State Health Services that it was “withdrawing its application for a summer 2026 camp license.”
The announcement capped weeks of growing scrutiny by state officials, some of whom publicly called for the state to deny the camp a license to reopen. And it followed two days of tense and emotional hearings at the Texas State Capitol this week where members of the family that owns the camp tried to convince skeptical lawmakers that they had done all they could to respond to the fast-rising floodwaters on July 4.
The state health agency said last week that its investigators had found the camp did not meet a range of safety and emergency requirements. Those requirements were put into place by lawmakers last year, after the flooding in the Texas Hill Country. The camp had been given time to correct the shortcomings.
But on Thursday, the camp said in a statement that it would not seek to make those corrections and would instead opt to “step back” for the upcoming summer.
“No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July’s tragedy,” the statement read.
This decision not to reopen, the camp said, was “intended to remove any doubt that Camp Mystic has heard the concerns expressed by grieving families, members of the Texas House and Senate investigating committees and citizens across our state.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had urged the state not to grant the camp a license, said on social media that he welcomed the announcement, calling it “the correct decision to protect Texas campers and to allow time for all investigations to be completed.”
A spokeswoman for the state health agency said its investigation into the camp, which is being assisted by the state police, would continue. An investigation by a joint committee of the Texas Legislature, which heard testimony in the hearings this week, is also ongoing.
Gov. Greg Abbott said the results of the health agency’s investigation would be announced “as soon as possible.”
Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp that draws in many affluent Texas families, had been slated to reopen on May 30 at a newer portion of the camp that did not flood last year.
But the prospect of welcoming back campers less than a year after the tragedy had divided the tight-knit camp community and angered the parents of the victims. Some have filed lawsuits against the Eastland family, which owns the camp.
The camp said that it had made its decision “rather than risk defending our rights under Texas law in a manner that may unintentionally effect further harm.”
Twenty-five campers, most of them under 10 years old, and two counselors died when the Guadalupe River, which runs alongside the camp, rose rapidly in the dark early morning hours of July 4. The patriarch of the Eastland family and longtime director of the camp, Dick Eastland, also died.
The body of one 8-year-old camper, Cile Steward, has not been found.
“We never imagined a world without our daughters, and no decision made now can change that,” said Matthew Childress, whose 18-year-old daughter, Chloe, was a counselor who died. “This is the first step of many, including our continued, unwavering search to find Cile Steward.”
Members of the Eastland family were contrite during the hearing and said they were willing to “step back” from operating the camp over the summer, so long as it would be allowed to reopen. But lawmakers appeared unmoved.
“The license is a privilege to have,” a state senator, Lois Kolkhorst, told the family, adding that the state has stripped day care operators of licenses for a single death.
In its statement, the camp said that “over 800 girls want to return” to the camp this summer.
“Our special bond with our Camp Mystic families does not change or end with the announcement,” the statement read. “We love each of you.”
Lauren McGaughy contributed reporting from Austin.
J. David Goodman is the Texas bureau chief for The Times, based in Houston.
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