No written emergency plans. Stalled evacuations. Chaotic incident management and re-unification efforts.
Those were some of the main findings included in a new investigative report on Camp Mystic's response to last year's historic July Fourth flood that killed 25 of its campers and two counselors.
The 115-page document, which was adopted Thursday by a special joint committee in the Texas Legislature, paints a troubling picture of Camp Mystic's preparedness prior to the flood.
"This report represents months of careful work by the Senate and House General Investigative Committees to establish a complete and factual record of the events surrounding this tragedy, honor the memories of those that were lost, and identify lessons that can help prevent future loss of life," said state Sen. Pete Flores (R-Pleasanton), a committee chair.
More than 130 people were killed in the July Fourth floods. The majority of those deaths took place in Kerr County in the Texas Hill Country, where Camp Mystic is one of many popular summer camps lining the banks of the Guadalupe River.
Now, lawmakers say the report's findings will be used to guide policy changes for the Texas Legislature to take up when they reconvene in 2027.
This move comes after state lawmakers passed a package of bills during a special session aimed at improving youth camp safety and boosting the state's emergency preparedness and response planning.
State Sen. Charles Perry (R-San Angelo), told the panel on Thursday that he believes a good portion of the issues cited in the new report on Camp Mystic were already addressed by that legislation, and that he believes only a few tweaks are needed going forward.
"What I don't want to do is have to effectively bring back the hurt that comes with these conversations if we've already addressed it the way it needs to be addressed — to the legislature's credit," said Perry.
The report was created by Casey Garrett and Judge Michael Massengale, investigators hired by the legislature to look into the flood and its response — including what went wrong at Camp Mystic.
Thursday's meeting marked the first time the legislative panel has convened since two days of eye-opening testimony in late April where Garrett grilled camp leaders and closely examined staffers' actions as the flooding tragedy unfolded. During those hearings, Edward Eastland, one of the directors of Camp Mystic, apologized to the families who lost their daughters at the all girls summer camp.
Garrett spoke to lawmakers again on Thursday, highlighting her findings. Those included how several staffers were not informed or given instruction about what to do during an emergency. She stressed to the committee that walkie-talkie calls went unanswered from leaders at the camp.
"The senior counselor in Cozy Corner said they were on the walkie-talkie [asking] What do we do? What do we do? And it went unanswered," Garrett told the 10-member panel, which includes lawmakers from both the Texas House and Senate.
While the committee adopted the report Thursday, Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso) believes that more work is ahead of them.
"There is a lot here… but we haven't talked about trailer parks, rural homes, [Texas Department of Emergency Management] positioning of assets in this committee, and that was our task," Moody said. "This task is not done and there is more that we need to do.
The report will be given to House and Senate leaders in order to help guide the chambers in creating new laws during the upcoming 2027 legislative session.
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