Texas legislative hearing underway on deadly 2025 Camp Mystic flooding

Texas lawmakers are hearing testimony in Austin on Monday as part of an ongoing inquiry into the deadly central Texas flooding that killed 27 people at Camp Mystic in July of 2025, including girls who were campers.

The state House committee is meeting concurrently with the Senate General Investigating Committee to hear invited testimony. Public testimony will not be taken, though public comments were also allowed to be submitted ahead of time.

Testimony shared in recent weeks included Mary Liz Eastland, a member of the family that owns and operates the camp who was also the camp's medical officer. She testified that she still has not officially reported the deaths to the state health agency that regulates camps and is reviewing its application to reopen this summer. She was questioned in a legal fight between the camp operators and families of victims who have filed lawsuits and want the camp to preserve damaged areas as evidence.

A recent evidentiary hearing in the lawsuit against the camp's owners ended with emotional testimony after producing the most extensive details from camp operators of what happened in the flood, including missed chances to prepare for the storm, and the delayed decisions to evacuate. Members of the Eastland family, who run and direct the camp, were grilled about their actions that night last July.

Edward Eastland, Camp Mystic's director, said he did not see early federal and state warnings issued the day before the storm hit, and that staff had no meetings about the pending danger.

In March 2026, a judge ordered the camp to preserve damaged areas of the camp's grounds as evidence in the lawsuits filed by the families of the victims.