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The families of the Camp Mystic girls and counselors killed in the catastrophic July 4 floods in Texas have filed a lawsuit against the camp's operators claiming they didn't take necessary steps as life-threatening floodwaters approached, the Associated Press reports.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Texas state court in Austin on Monday (November 10), is seeking more than $1 million in damages, though the exact amount isn't specified, and comes as the camp announced plans to reopen, which was met with outrage from several victims' families. The lawsuit claims a groundskeeper was directed to spend more than an hour evacuating equipment while girls and counselors whose cabins were located closest to the Guadalupe River were ordered to stay there as floodwaters overwhelmed the camp.
The lawsuit was filed by the families of five of the 25 campgoers and both of the counselors killed in the catastrophic floods.
“These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety,” the lawsuit states via the Associated Press. “The camp chose to house young girls in cabins sitting in flood-prone areas, despite the risk, to avoid the cost of relocating the cabins.”
The suit also accuses the camp of opting not to make plans to safely evacuate the facility, despite state rules requiring such action to be taken and, instead, ordering campers and counselors to stay at their cabins. Camp Mystic, affiliated entities and its owners, which includes the estate of Richard Eastland, the owner who was also killed in the flooding, and his relatives were all listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
A separate lawsuit was also filed by the family of Eloise Peck, another camper killed in the flood, in Travis County on Monday.