The families of some of the victims who died in devastating floods at Camp Mystic have sued the Texas Christian camp, accusing its owners of gross negligence and failing to protect children in their care.
Twenty-seven children and counsellors died after flash floods swept through central Texas over the 4 July holiday. The families of seven victims allege that the camp’s owners knew about the flood risk but did not take steps to prevent and evacuate campers from danger.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in state court in Austin, is seeking more than $1m in damages.
The suit comes after the camp announced it would partially reopen next year, drawing criticism from some of the victims’ families.
“These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety,” the lawsuit said.
A lawyer for the camp’s owners said while it empathised with victims, he disagreed with some of the accusations.
More than 130 people died in the central Texas floods that shocked the nation and brought into sharp relief several emergency warning failures in the state. The tragedy at the young girls’ camp, established in 1926, received particular attention given the flood-prone location.
The camp’s co-owner and director Dick Eastland also died in the flood.
The lawsuit accuses the camp’s owners of not heeding warning about its cabin locations along the Guadalupe River as well as the oncoming severe rain.
“The camp ignored warnings about the risky location of its cabins,” the lawsuit said.
“It ignored warnings about the approaching 4 July storm and life-threatening flood risks. It ignored the obvious and rising flood risks that morning as the hours passed. It ignored warnings from its own counsellors to evacuate the cabins. It simply ignored the unmistakable safety threat to its campers and counsellors until this tragedy was unavoidable.”
According to the lawsuit, some of the victims’ parents were campers themselves when they were young.
An attorney for the camp’s operators said the flood was unprecedented in nature.
“We empathise with the families of the campers and counsellors and all families in the Hill Country who lost loved ones in the horrific and unprecedented flood of July 4,” Jeff Ray said in a statement to the BBC.
“We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area,” he added.
Camp Mystic also told the BBC in a statement they “continue to pray for the grieving families and ask for God’s healing and comfort”.
The wrongful death suit filed in Texas state court is not the first against the camp.
Another group of six victims families have sued the camp. The parents of eight-year-old Eloise “Lulu” Peck have also separately sued the camp.
In response to the tragedy, Texas lawmakers have passed legislation that would restrict the establishment of camps in flood-risk zones, mandate emergency training for camp owners and staff and fund the installation of emergency sirens across the state.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: BBC
