Parents who lost children during last summer’s Hill Country flood continue asking state regulators to block the reopening of Camp Mystic’s Cypress Lake campus. The state’s submission period for youth camp license applications ends March 31.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) licenses and inspects youth camps. The DSHS website states that failure to submit an application by March 31 “will delay the issuance of your license.”
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“We want answers. We want to know what happened to Ellen and to our other daughter, Gwynne,” said Jennifer Getten.
Ellen Getten, 9, died during the floods. Her sister, Gwynne, survived.
READ MORE: Several Camp Mystic parents ask state to deny license renewal
The Gettens are among several families suing Camp Mystic over the deaths of 25 campers and two counselors during the July 4 flood. Mystic co-owner Dick Eastland also died while trying to evacuate campers.
“When you allow another adult to take care of your children, they are taking on the biggest responsibility a human being can take on, and they failed us,” said Doug Getten.
The Gettens said Gwynne was excited to show her little sister the ropes at Camp Mystic. Last summer was Ellen’s first time at camp, and she was assigned to the Bubble Inn cabin.
“Gwynne tucked her sister in every night at camp. She did on July 3 and said, ‘I love you,’ and kissed her good night,” said Jennifer Getten.
Gwynne was staying in a different cabin but immediately thought of her sister when the floodwaters began to rise.
“Our older daughter walked by her little sister’s cabin and asked if she could get her sister. As she walked past the cabin, she was told ‘no,’” Jennifer Getten said.
Jennifer Getten said Gwynne told them that prior to the decision to begin evacuating some cabins, her counselor went to Dick Eastland at 2 a.m. and asked to evacuate but was told to put down towels.
The Gettens and several other families have criticized what they describe as a lack of an evacuation plan at Camp Mystic. According to documents filed as part of lawsuits, the camp’s emergency plans called for campers to stay in their cabins unless instructed otherwise, because the cabins were built on “high, safe locations.”
“Evacuation means to leave to go to safety. You don’t have to be an English major to know that. The plan was to stay in cabins and wait for instruction over a walkie-talkie, which did not exist. The counselors did not have them,” said Doug Getten.
The Gettens said that by 10 a.m. on July 4, they received a 15-second voicemail from a camp representative asking them to call her. Both Doug and Jennifer Getten said there was no sense of urgency in the message.
“By the time we got the call, they already knew children were dead, and we were never told that,” Jennifer Getten said. “We had no idea. We took the bigger car because we figured we were bringing both of our girls home.”
The Gettens said that when they arrived in Kerr County, they were reunited with Gwynne.
“Her first comment was, ‘I don’t want to be an only child,’ and she fell to her knees,” said Jennifer Getten.
“They shared everything together, and they took that from us,” said Doug Getten. “She asked about every single girl in the Bubble Inn cabin: ‘Is she dead too?’ ‘Is she dead too?’ And the answer was yes.”
READ MORE: Texas Lt. Gov. asks for pause on Camp Mystic license renewal
The Gettens said they still have not received answers about what decisions were made before and during the flooding. Lawsuits filed against Camp Mystic contend that staff initially focused on moving equipment to higher ground.
“After counselors started raising concerns to leadership—being adamant that we need to go—only then was there some sort of decision, and it was too little, too late,” said the Gettens’ attorney, Kyle Findley.
The lack of answers is why the Gettens and other families are asking DSHS not to issue Camp Mystic a license to operate this year.
“We need to press pause because there’s a legislative investigation going on right now, and that will help us understand what the failures were,” said Doug Getten.
The Gettens also take issue with the Eastland family remaining in charge of Camp Mystic.
“How can the same family—the same people—take on more children when they can’t even tell the families of the children who died what happened that night?” said Jennifer Getten.
Both the Texas House and Senate General Investigating Committees will hold hearings later this year to examine what happened at Camp Mystic. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also sent a letter to DSHS recommending that Mystic’s license not be renewed at this time.
Camp Mystic’s attorneys contend the floodwaters rose to a level that was “unexpected and unforeseeable.” The camp has released three videos explaining why it wants to reopen the Cypress Lake campus, which is a quarter-mile upstream from the Guadalupe River campus, where campers, counselors, and Dick Eastland lost their lives.
The “Through the Storm” videos state that the Cypress Lake location is on much higher ground than its sister campus. The parents of Cile Steward, 8, who is still missing, have also sued Camp Mystic in an effort to prevent the reopening of Cypress Lake or any changes to the Guadalupe River campus.
A judge declined to block the reopening of Cypress Lake but did grant a temporary injunction preventing the camp from making alterations to the Guadalupe campus. Attorneys for Camp Mystic are appealing that portion of the ruling.
All youth camps in Texas must now comply with new state laws passed during last summer’s special legislative session. The Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act and the Youth CAMPER Act were enacted in response to the loss of life. A third bill was also passed to map flood zones and install warning sirens in those areas.