Camp Mystic Files For Bankruptcy A Year After Floods Killed 28 Girls And Staff In Texas

Camp Mystic has revenge for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization astir a twelvemonth aft catastrophic floods killed 25 girls and 2 teenage counselors astatine nan all-girls Christian campy successful Texas.

The campy listed its indebtedness arsenic exceeding $10 cardinal successful paperwork revenge pinch nan U.S. Bankruptcy Court successful nan Southern District of Texas successful Houston. The campy on nan Guadalupe River said it had assets successful nan scope of $100,001 to $500,000.

Families of nan victims revenge a suit successful November seeking much than $1 cardinal successful damages, saying nan campy operators grounded to return nan basal steps to protect nan girls arsenic life-threatening floodwaters approached connected July 4. Camp proprietor Richard Eastland besides died successful nan flood.

All told, nan destructive flooding killed astatine slightest 136 group on a several-mile agelong of nan river, raising questions astir really things went truthful terribly wrong.

The bankruptcy filing comes weeks aft Camp Mystic halted plans to reopen this summer successful nan look of outrage from victims’ families and lawmakers that nan century-old campy intended to invited girls backmost while lawsuits and investigations remained ongoing.

Camp Mystic's lawyer had said it was fresh to reopen for business for astir 900 campers earlier nan camp's reversal successful April.

The determination followed weeks of grounds successful tribunal hearings and legislative investigations that laid bare nan camp’s deficiency of elaborate readying for a flood emergency and its reliance connected poorly trained staff.

Families of nan victims packed nan hearings, often wearing “Heaven’s 27” pins pinch photographs of their daughters.

They listened to nan specifications of missed flood informing signs, nan descriptions of nan flood and nan determination to time off nan girls successful their cabins until it was excessively late. Testimony included video of nan raging floodwaters arsenic a woman many times screamed for “help!” location successful nan distance.

Before halting nan reopening plans, Camp Mystic invited journalists and lawmakers to reappraisal information improvements astatine nan campy and promised that nary campy activities would return spot successful nan low-lying area that was devastated by nan flood.

The Eastland family besides stressed that hundreds of families wanted to return and described it arsenic a typical a spot for generations of Texans.