Nearly 900 girls are signed up to attend Camp Mystic this summer at the camp’s Cypress Lake campus, one year after catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River killed 25 campers and two counselors.
The all-girls Christian camp in Hunt, Texas, applied to renew its state license with the Texas Department of State Health Services to reopen the higher-ground Cypress Lake site, which sits less than two miles uphill from the flooded Guadalupe River location and sustained no damage on July 4, 2025. Cypress Lake opened in 2020 and was not affected by the historic flash flooding that devastated the original campgrounds.
The renewal effort faces intense scrutiny. On Tuesday in Austin’s 459th State District Court, Camp Mystic medical officer Mary Liz Eastland testified that she never reported any of the 27 deaths to state health regulators within the required 24-hour window — and that the camp has still not filed an official report to date.
The testimony came during a hearing tied to civil lawsuits filed by families of the victims, who are seeking to preserve damaged areas of the original site as evidence. The July 4 flood remains one of the deadliest in recent Texas history and has prompted ongoing investigations by state health officials and the Texas Rangers, including review of hundreds of complaints against the camp.
Camp Mystic has said it will comply with new state camp safety laws, including enhanced flood monitoring, if approved. A final decision on the license is pending. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has urged the health department to delay approval until all investigations are complete.
