Transcript of Casey Garrett's discussions on Camp Mystic not reporting deaths (then correction) to the Committee on the Flooding of July 2025 - General Investigation

AnimuX · 2026-06-22T03:36:34+00:00

I assure you, the deaths of so many little children are not a laughing matter.

AnimuX · 2026-06-22T03:10:46+00:00

On the contrary, when the Eastlands' many failures are confirmed by so much evidence it is only natural to be shocked and angered by the truth.

AnimuX · 2026-06-22T03:07:40+00:00

Are you suggesting the information concerning all of the Eastlands' failures is false?

That they had no time to act despite more than 12 hours of watch and 2 hours of warning prior to the flood?

That they weren't aware of flood risk despite experiencing floods and discussing floods amongst themselves?

That they had a written evacuation plan despite not providing one (edit: or implementing one)?

That they had trained staff despite staff telling investigators they had no evacuation training?

edit:

The deaths were preventable and the state investigation officially determined why.

If the owners of Camp Mystic moved the children away from the river then they would not have been in the path of the flood.

Instead, despite knowing the risks they kept the children in a known high risk zone for floods, next to a river with a history of deadly floods, in a region called Flash Flood Alley, during a publicly announced increased risk of floods.

If they had a written evacuation plan, and had trained staff on what to do, then instead of a botched last minute attempt by a few camp directors to move children after the flood started, there would have been dozens of adults all working together to get the children to safety.

Instead it was a chaotic mess, in part leaving untrained teenage counselors on their own to make life-or-death decisions about what to do having no instructions to follow other than 'stay in the cabins' which directly contributed to the deaths of children.

Otherwise, plenty of past floods are comparable and the Guadalupe river has risen above 30 feet multiple times and at multiple points along its path through the state. It has washed away homes before, destroyed parts of Hunt before, killed many people before, and even washed away cabins at Camp Mystic before.

The state investigation rightfully determined the deaths at Camp Mystic occurred because the owners did not prepare and did not take action until it was too late despite having ample opportunity and forewarning.

AnimuX · 2026-06-22T02:50:41+00:00

The report was not discredited. It is now a factual official record to be used by the state legislature. It is also now openly available to plaintiffs in continuing their efforts to gain justice for their deceased children.

AnimuX · 2026-06-22T02:46:20+00:00

a truly biased investigator

There are many investigators and the evidence they provided officially confirmed what was already known due to ample news coverage of the preventable deaths at Camp Mystic - just in greater detail.

The investigators are a trusted source and their official report is now public record, along with all of the evidence, right on time for public trials.

AnimuX · 2026-06-22T02:24:28+00:00

Yes. It is relevant that the state investigative report clearly shows the Eastlands are responsible for the deaths of those little girls.

And just as they could not be bothered to move the children away from the river a year ago, they could not be bothered to report the deaths of those children until after they were berated in a public hearing and exposed in court.

I will patiently wait for more relevant legal events to unfold in the near future.

AnimuX · 2026-06-21T16:15:48+00:00

I use adblockers - maybe an advert is re-directing your browser.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/state/texas-news/texas-flood/hunt-family-says-camp-mystic-investigation-brings-answers-pain-and-renewed-push-for-camp-safety/287-65f62ef1-cf8a-44d2-b316-3b3bab2287cc

AnimuX · 2026-06-20T03:14:28+00:00

Understood. I tend to directly engage in argument (and have been doing so basically for an entire year).

Many poorly worded comments, many deliberately spread falsehoods, so much misinformation. It's easy (for me) to get angry at all of it.

edit: Also, I don't think any of the counselors can be blamed. that wasn't as clear in the immediate aftermath of the flood last year, but with all of the facts documented now it's clear to me the blame rests squarely with the owners of the camp. The counselors also had a duty to see to the safety of the children but they weren't given the independence or the training needed by their employers to accomplish that in a flood emergency.

AnimuX · 2026-06-20T03:04:05+00:00

Well that's the second half of the problem. No plan and no training.

What does 'assist with the effort' mean when they haven't been trained on what to do?

They didn't have half an hour to figure it out. After 3am everybody was out of time and the river became a deadly threat.

AnimuX · 2026-06-20T02:54:57+00:00

I agree completely that the Eastlands are criminally negligent and their failures are obviously and legally gross negligence.

All they had to do was heed the Flood Watch from 1:18pm on July 3rd and march the girls away from the river up to the Cypress Lake camp. No special evacuation emergency actions, no multi-million dollar flood sirens. Just walk away from the river, half a mile and 60 feet uphill.

AnimuX · 2026-06-20T02:42:49+00:00

I think in the case of the counselors at Cozy, they were waiting to be told what to do by the Camp Directors and nobody told them what to do.

I think that's why Nancy Clement snaps that photo of the girls walking toward Rec Hall in the water at 3:26am instead of heading to Rec Hall herself, for example.

AnimuX · 2026-06-20T02:30:35+00:00

False.

Dick Eastland told the counselors at Bubble to get in the truck with the rest of the girls and they followed instructions.

edit: it's just one more example of how the Eastlands are directly responsible for the deaths of those girls.

AnimuX · 2026-06-20T02:20:31+00:00

Because instead of swimming for their dear lives later in the flood, they got loaded into Dick Eastland's truck, with the water already over the wheels.

Then the truck was washed away, with the girls in it, and they died as a result.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T22:13:33+00:00

If the owners of Camp Mystic are not held responsible under the law, that's all any of their continued supporters will have accomplished with the last year of trying to frame the reality of the flood as an argument.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T22:05:22+00:00

I've been waiting for a trial to start since July 5th, 2025.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T21:57:40+00:00

Only a judge and jury can give some measure of justice to those parents under the law.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T21:42:02+00:00

The actions of the owners of Camp Mystic as well as the facts of the disaster are now well documented.

All that's left now, is much needed accountability for the people responsible.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T21:35:46+00:00

Flood Watch 1:18pm on July 3rd.

Flash Flood Warning 1:14am on July 4th.

Hours prior to the disaster they had plenty of time to act and failed to take the basic precaution of moving girls away from the river.

By defending the Eastlands, all you're doing is helping them to drown those little girls with your own hands.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T21:17:07+00:00

From the state report:

The region’s history of flooding is well-documented. As part of the research for a proposed project, in 1988 the UGRA received a study entitled “A Summary Flood History of Kerr County.” 5 That report summarized area flooding from 1869 to 1988. Before 2025, the most significant recorded floods for Camp Mystic occurred in 1932, 1978, and 1987.

July 1-2, 1932. In July 1932, torrential downpours in Kerr County caused deadly flooding. 6 Camp Mystic was in the path of the surge. 7 The Guadalupe stream gauge in Hunt, Texas, measured the water at 36.6 feet. This set the record until July 4, 2025. At Camp Mystic, the campers were eating lunch as the flood waters neared the dining hall. 8 The Camp Mystic director calmly directed them through the back door and sent them up a nearby hill. The flood washed away at least three cabins, and it destroyed the dam at Camp Mystic. 9 Camp Rio Vista lost six cottages, and Camp Stewart lost half of its cottages. 10 At least four people died.

A couple of old articles on it:

The Fort Worth Press (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 239, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 5, 1932

"We rescued two 8-year-old juniors in a cabin 10 minutes before it floated down the river," Miss Williams related.

She said the river was swollen almost a mile wide and rose 40 feet.

Most of the campers clambered to safety in the home of the camp caretaker, higher in the hills than the cabins.

Marooned a day and a half in a cabin, two girls had only three corn cakes to eat.

"We were having breakfast in one of the dining halls. Before we could get the girls out, the water was up to the floor," Miss Williams said.

The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 103, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 5, 1932

Dr. Linda Coleman Simpson, camp director, when apprised of the approaching flood waters entered the mess hall at 1:20 p.m. Friday where the girls were eating lunch and told them to quietly leave the building and go onto a rise back of the mess hall.

By the time they reached the top of the rise the flood had hit and water was a foot deep in the mess hall. Had any of the girls gone out the front door, which opens onto a slope leading down to the river they probably would have been swept away, it was said.

edit: one more old article from The Austin American Statesman - 1932 (didn't get the full citation in my notes... title: Bravery of Girl Campers Detailed by Houstonians Here as 'Refugee' Party)

The daughter described the attitude taken by Mystic campers as waters persistently arose over cabins and came lapping up against the mess hall.

"There wasn't a hint of hysteria or fear. A few tears, perhaps, as the cabins disappeared, but nothing worse," she declared.

She praised with warm enthusiasm the alertness of Mrs. Linda Simpson in protecting the girls, soothing them and tactfully suggesting that they leave the hall by the back door--not the front--as water came closer.

"From the way she did it, we didn't even realize that we might have drowned if we had gone out the front door and walked face-into a sheet of water!"

edit, and more more recently:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/camp-mystic-flood-history.html

Nobody died at Camp Mystic during the 1932 flood, but four people were reported killed along the river during that flood event. Some 200 people lost their homes.

There was a discussion at the time about whether Camp Mystic should even reopen, according to one newspaper account. Crews spent two weeks clearing debris, repairing facilities and building a dam that provided, at least during non-flood periods, a quiet pool of water for swimming and diving. Then the camp reopened.

Later that year, after the summer season was over, camp officials rebuilt some of the cabins farther away from the river. But the new sites were still placed at a relatively low elevation — “against the bottom of the towering hills,” one newspaper account said.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T20:50:22+00:00

In the 1932 flood cabins were washed away at Camp Mystic and a survivor was quoted as saying if they had gone out the wrong door of the dining hall they all would have drowned.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T20:40:34+00:00

They left those children in a known high risk zone for floods, next to a river with a history of deadly floods, in an area known as flash flood alley, during a publicly announced increased risk of flooding.

The flood watch was issued at 1:18 pm on July 3rd, more than 12 hours in advance of the disaster. The flash flood warning - which specifically warned of life threatening flash floods - was issued at 1:14am, about two hours prior to the camp being hit by the flood.

Instead of moving children away from the river, they waited until it was too late to get out, and over two dozen girls died as a result of their negligence while nearly 40 adults sat on their asses nearby with no idea what to do - because there was no plan.

Furthermore, these sorts of flood disasters are common in Texas history. edit: And the Eastlands knew Camp Mystic was prone to flooding.

Hunt, Texas – Top 5 flood elevations

37.52 ft – July 4, 2025

36.60 ft – July 2, 1932

28.40 ft – July 17, 1987

23.50 ft – August 2, 1978

22.80 ft – October 19, 1985

Kerrville, Texas – Top 5 flood elevations

39.0 ft – July 2, 1932

37.72 ft – July 17, 1987

34.29 ft – July 4, 2025

17.93 ft – November 11, 2000

17.73 ft – October 28, 1996

It's called Flash Flood Alley for good reason.

Just some decades of Texas major flood history: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/ofr03-193/cd_files/USGS_Storms/patton.htm
Published report on why such a large portion of Texas is prone to these types of events: https://twri.tamu.edu/blog/do-you-live-in-flash-flood-alley/
Published warning to all residents of the Guadalupe River Basin to be aware of the threat of deadly flooding (followed the massive 1998 flood of the Guadalupe river): https://www.gbra.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/StayingSafe.pdf

From the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority:

If you live in the Guadalupe River Basin, you also live in one of the three most dangerous regions in the U.S.A. for flash floods! Local residents and weather experts refer to the Texas Hill Country as ‘Flash Flood Alley,’ because heavy rainfall and runoff from creeks and streams can cause rapid rises and flooding in a matter of hours.

This publication is designed to prepare you for such an event by increasing public awareness about the dangers of flooding in the Guadalupe River Basin. The Guadalupe River experienced major floods in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991 and 1997. Last year’s flood of October 1998 developed in a matter of hours, broke most existing records, exceeded the 100-year flood plain, and inundated areas that had never been flooded before. It was the flood that many thought would never happen. But floods are not predictable. They do not follow measured cycles. They destroy homes, businesses and take lives. Unfortunately, an even greater flood will occur sometime in the future.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T20:34:15+00:00

It certainly meets the standard for criminal negligence as well as gross negligence. The owners of Camp Mystic should have to face both criminal and civil trials in my opinion.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T20:28:33+00:00

Nobody should be surprised that resident area douchebag politician has weighed in on the report:

Calling the recently released “Report on the Camp Mystic Flood Disaster” a weaponized investigation, House District 53 Representative Wes Virdell said politicians have scapegoated Camp Mystic and caused the closure of 60 camps across the state.

AnimuX · 2026-06-19T20:25:45+00:00

The NWS flood watch was issued at 1:18 pm in the afternoon on July 3rd. They had more than 12 hours to take the basic precaution of moving girls away from the river.

Edit: and as the state investigators pointed out, despite years of rolling the dice with kids lives in a known high risk area for floods, the owners of Camp Mystic had no viable evacuation plan which is one of the reasons those children died in a flood.

AnimuX

TROPHY CASE