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AUSTIN (AP) – Camp Mystic’s plan to reopen this summer — less than a year after catastrophic floods in Texas Hill Country killed 25 young campers and two teenage counselors — has angered some of the victims’ families.

Owners of the Christian all-girls camp, who hope to welcome campers back starting in May, say they have made safety improvements and that devastated areas closest to the Guadalupe River will remain closed.

Texas health regulators are reviewing whether to renew Camp Mystic’s license that would allow the camp to resume operations and mark its 100th anniversary.

Here’s a timeline of key events related to the deadly flooding:
Inspectors sign off on Camp Mystic’s emergency plan

Two days before the flood, state inspectors approve Camp Mystic’s safety plan, according to Department of State Health Services records. Their report notes the camp complied with a host of state regulations regarding “procedures to be implemented in case of a disaster.” Among them: instructing campers what to do if they need to evacuate and assigning specific duties to each staff member and counselor.
Deadly flooding devastates campsite

A storm unleashes heavy, isolated rainfall early on July 4, 2025, that sent floodwaters rushing down the Guadalupe River through the hilly region in central Texas. The fast-rising waters quickly overtake two cabins closest to the river where the youngest girls are housed, sweeping them to their deaths. Camp owner Richard Eastland also dies in the flooding.

Flanked by family members who lost their children at Camp Mystic, Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 5 signs several bills into law aimed at preventing similar tragedies in the future. The measures prohibit cabins in dangerous parts of flood zones and require camp operators to develop detailed emergency plans, to train workers and to install and maintain emergency warning systems. One allocates $240 million for disaster relief, along with money for warning sirens and improved weather forecasting.
Camp Mystic announces plans to reopen

The owners of Camp Mystic announce a plan to partially reopen the camp in a Sept. 23 letter to parents, prompting outrage from some of the flooding victims’ families. The camp also says it will build a memorial to those killed in the flooding. Parents say they weren’t consulted about the decision. Cici Steward, whose 8-year-old daughter Cile remains missing, writes in a scathing letter that campers will “swim in the same river that may potentially still hold my daughter’s body.” Parents call the plan ”unthinkable.”
Families file lawsuits against Camp Mystic

The families of the girls who died in the flooding file lawsuits alleging the operators of Camp Mystic failed to take necessary steps to protect the campers as life-threatening floodwaters approached. The lawsuits, filed Nov. 10 in state court in Austin, seek more than $1 million in damages but do not specify an exact amount.
Texas regulators say they’re investigating complaints

Texas health regulators tell Camp Mystic’s owners they are investigating hundreds of complaints against the camp as the state considers whether to allow it to reopen this summer. The investigations announced April 7 underscore the hurdles facing Camp Mystic as it pushes ahead with a plan to reopen over the outrage of the victims’ families.
Regulators uncover problems with the camp’s safety plans

Texas state regulators find nearly two dozen deficiencies in the emergency operations plan submitted by the owners of Camp Mystic as they prepare to reopen. An 11-page report sent April 24 by the Health Services Department notes problems with flood warning evacuation plans, use of an emergency warning and public address system, monitoring safety alerts and safety training.
Camp officials testify during 3-day hearing

The April 13-15 hearing shines new light on what happened before and during the flood. Camp director Edward Eastland acknowledges lives could have been saved if staff had acted sooner, but insists they could not have anticipated the severity of the storm. A security guard testifies he received no orders from camp officials on what to do as the floodwaters rose but was able to help a group of campers escape to safety.
Investigator says unqualified teens were put in charge

An investigator told lawmakers on Thursday that young and inexperienced counselors were not trained to help campers during floods or other emergencies, and feared making decisions on their own. Casey Garrett said a “obedience” culture paired poorly trained teenage counselors with the youngest campers and was complacent about flood warnings. A written report is expected later this year.

AUSTIN (AP) — Young and inexperienced Camp Mystic counselors were not trained to help campers during floods or other emergencies, and feared making decisions on their own, an investigator into the 2025 flood that killed 27 counselors and campers told Texas lawmakers Monday.

Lawmakers heard an emotional and sweeping review of a camp “obedience” culture that paired poorly trained teenage counselors with the youngest campers; was complacent about flood warnings; had poor communications; and critically delayed evacuation efforts.

“There was never any real training, no drills of any kind,” for counselors or campers of what do to or where to go in a flood threat, a special legislative committee’s investigator, Casey Garrett, said. She was addressing the committee’s first hearing on the July Fourth flood that swept through the all-girls Christian camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors were killed. Camp owner Richard Eastland was also killed as he desperately tried to evacuate girls to higher ground.

Garrett noted that most of the victims were under age 10, some attending camp for the first time, and that the counselors in the hardest hit cabins were among the youngest and most inexperienced at the camp.

Many of the grim details had already been made public through hearings, media reports and interviews, but the state report — including interviews with about 150 people including campers, counselors, the Eastland family and victims’ families — presented them in a stark, streamlined review.

“The fate of those girls was set before any drop of rain fell.” Sen. Charles Perry said during the hearing.

He continued: “The things that were common sense and the things that should have been done, didn’t get done.”
Families of the victims pack the hearing

Dozens of victim family members filled the committee room Monday. Some sobbed or walked out when photos of the victims and the destroyed camp site were displayed, or when they heard their loved ones’ names read aloud.

The report noted some harrowing survivor accounts, including of a girl who was swept more than 6 miles downriver. She told investigators she was sucked underwater several times before she washed up on a debris pile and fell asleep. She was rescued the next morning by two women who heard her cries for help.

One girl recalled how the floodwater in her cabin rose so high that her chin touched the ceiling, Garrett said. One counselor told investigators she pushed girls underwater to get them through the door of a flooded cabin.

The committee saw video of water rushing into a building through cracks in the door. In cellphone video shot by a stranded camper, a girl can be heard yelling “Help!” in the dark, raging floodwaters.

Garrett played an interview with a counselor who said she climbed atop a two-story recreation hall with about 100 campers. She described their terror as rising floodwaters closed in on them.
Campers and counselors had no emergency training

Garrett, a Houston attorney who also helped with the Legislature’s report on the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, several times noted the lack of emergency training for the teenage counselors and child campers.

There was no detailed evacuation plan, he said, and the only instruction for the girls in low-lying areas of the camp was a one-paragraph directive that told them to “stay in their cabins unless told otherwise by the office. All cabins are constructed on high, safe locations.” State inspectors approved that plan two days before the flood.

Eventually, some counselors took matters into their own hands and pushed girls through cabin windows to scramble up a hill.

“It wasn’t a plan. It wasn’t a safe plan, It was an option taken, thank God,” Garrett said. “It was very ad hoc.”

Camp Mystic’s owners are seeking permission to reopen in late May and have said they will only use parts of the camp that didn’t flood. They expect nearly 900 girls on campus this summer. The plans to reopen have angered victims’ families, and some prominent state officials have called for state regulators to deny or delay renewal of its license, which is under review.

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed new measures to demand more detailed planning and training, and the installation of emergency warning systems. The Legislature doesn’t meet again until January 2027 and the panel does not control the review of Camp Mystic’s license.
Investigator describes the camp’s formidable owner

Some counselors told investigators they feared getting into trouble if they were to take children to higher ground or out into the storm without explicit instructions.

Garrett described the camp’s “obedience-encouraged” culture dominated by Eastland, the campus patriarch. Some members of the Eastland family and camp staff referred to him as “The General” and “The Eagle.”

“He ruled,” his wife Tweety told investigators. Several Eastland family members attended the hearing.

“He was running the show over there … You just really didn’t cross him,” Garrett said.

The camp relied almost exclusively on Eastland for how to act in a flood emergency. The owner’s son, Edward Eastland, testified in a lawsuit last week that any detailed flood evacuation plan was simply inside his father’s head.

Richard Eastland and several girls were was found dead in his vehicle after he tried to drive them to safety. Edward Eastland was swept by the floodwaters into a tree. Camp security officer Glenn Juenke survived although he was trapped in a flooded cabin with campers.

Garrett described Richard Eastland as a popular camp leader who taught generations of girls how to fish. He had a knack for comforting young campers who were nervous about their first time away from home.

“We do know Dick Eastland loved every little girl who came to Camp Mystic,” Garrett said.

UPDATE: A 16-year-old was taken into custody and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon and manslaughter in connection with the deadly shooting. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says he may face additional charges and will remain in custody at the juvenile detention center.

POLK COUNTY — Three people were arrested on Sunday after a 20-year-old was fatally shot at an after-prom party in Polk County. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and our news partner KETK, dispatchers received calls that 20-year-old Jeremy Lamar Bennett was shot at a location off of US Highway 146 in Polk County at around 1:07 a.m. on Sunday.

Deputies arrived at the scene and started to try and save Bennett’s life when a fight broke out in the crowd at the scene. This diverted efforts to try and save Bennett’s life as deputies tried to stop the fighting in the crowd.

EMS then arrived to take Bennett to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead from his wounds. The sheriff’s office said investigators believe that Bennett was shot when an after-prom party grew into a larger party where alcohol, marijuana and firearms were involved.

According to a press release, the party eventually led to a fight in which gunfire hit Bennett, fatally injuring him. The following three men were arrested in connection to the party:

The sheriff’s office said that, Osvaldo Daniel Alvarez, 19, was arrested for deadly conduct after he told deputies that he invited the crowd to his home to continue the party. Gabriel Ramirez Jr., 21, was charged with deadly conduct for allegedly discharging a firearm and Jon R. Villarreal, 19, was arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon.

“Sheriff Lyons and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office expressed their condolences to Jeremy’s family, stating that the loss of such a young life is heartbreaking and could have been prevented,” the sheriff’s office said. “He also urged the youth of Polk County to avoid situations involving large crowds, alcohol, drugs and weapons, emphasizing the importance of making safe choices and leaving potentially dangerous environments to return home safely.”

A search warrant was executed at the US Highway 146 property as part of an ongoing homicide investigation with the sheriff’s office and the Texas Rangers. During the search, officials recovered six firearms and undisclosed amounts of alcohol and drugs.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s government said Saturday that two U.S. federal agents recently killed in a car crash in the country’s northern region were not authorized to participate in operations in Mexico.

The role of the two CIA agents who were returning from destroying a clandestine drug lab in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua remains unclear.

Local government officials have said they were part of a convoy when their car drove off a ravine last weekend and the vehicle exploded. Two Mexican officers also were killed.

The Americans killed were from the CIA, The Associated Press confirmed earlier this week with a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

The CIA has declined to comment.

A statement from Mexico’s Ministry of Security said one U.S. agent entered Mexico as a visitor while the other entered with a diplomatic passport.

It also asserted that Mexico’s government was not aware of foreign agents operating or planning to participate in an operation on its soil.

The ministry said it is reviewing the case with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

“Mexican law is clear: it does not permit the participation of foreign agents in operations within the national territory,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added: “The Government of Mexico reiterates its willingness to maintain a close, serious, and respectful relationship with the Government of the United States for the benefit of the security of both countries.”

Officials from both countries have offered contradictory accounts on the issue, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum admitting on Wednesday that federal forces were involved after Mexico’s government said it had no knowledge of any operation or U.S. involvement.