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Camp Mystic will not reopen this summer. That's the private Christian summer camp for girls in Texas, where 25 campers and two counselors died during last July's flooding in the Hill Country. Kailey Hunt from member station KUT reports.
KAILEY HUNT, BYLINE: Just a few weeks before it intended to welcome back hundreds of children to the Texas Hill Country, Camp Mystic has withdrawn its application to renew its operating license for the 2026 summer camp season. The camp was previously notified by state health officials that its license to operate might not be renewed unless it made major revisions to its emergency plan. In a statement on Thursday, the camp said, quote, "no administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July's tragedy."
CiCi and Will Steward's 8-year-old daughter, Cile, is still missing after the floods last July. She's the only camper left unaccounted for. Yesterday, they described the camp's decision as being long overdue. The Stewards said, quote, "Camp Mystic did not withdraw its application out of grace. It withdrew because the state of Texas was prepared to deny it." At a legislative hearing in Austin earlier this week, CiCi Steward said there's not a day that goes by that she does not think about Cile. She donned a golden hummingbird pin on her blouse as she spoke.
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CICI STEWARD: Cile moved through the world like a hummingbird, quick and bright and nimble, always in motion and hard to pin down, even when she was standing right in front of you. Like my daughter, a hummingbird's life is often tragically short.
HUNT: At the same legislative hearing, Edward Eastland, one of the camp's owners and directors, tearfully apologized to the families of the 27 girls who died. His father, the camp's executive director, also died in the floods.
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EDWARD EASTLAND: I think about the night of the flood, every moment of every day. We tried our hardest that night, and it wasn't enough to save your daughters. We were devastated alongside you. I regret not communicating more with each of you earlier, and I'm so sorry.
HUNT: More than a dozen families are suing the camp and its leaders for negligent behavior leading up to and during the Fourth of July flood. Camp Mystic remains under investigation by state health officials after hundreds of complaints were filed against it, following last summer's 28 deaths. The camp has said it is cooperating with investigators. More than a hundred and thirty people died during the flooding.
For NPR News, I'm Kailey Hunt in Austin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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