The families of six children and two counselors who were killed in the Camp Mystic flooding tragedy are suing the camp's owners and other defendants for alleged negligence in a pair of lawsuits.
The disaster at the Texas summer camp left 27 children and counselors dead in July. A slow moving thunderstorm over the region kicked off widespread flooding, ultimately killing more than 100 people.
The lawsuits argued in part that the camp’s leadership failed to put proper evacuation plans into place despite it being located in a region of Texas called "Flash Flood Alley,” NBC News reports.
“Camp Mystic has long operated in a high-risk flood zone. Despite this known danger, the petition asserts that the camp failed to adopt legally required evacuation plans, ignored repeated weather warnings, and implemented unsafe policies,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit was filed by the families of five children and two counselors who lost their lives: Anna Margaret Bellows, 8; Lila Bonner, 9; Molly DeWitt, 9; Chloe Childress, 18; Katherine Ferruzzo, 19; Lainey Landry, 9; and Blakely McCrory, 8.
The filing also accuses the camp's staff of prioritizing saving equipment rather than the children.
"With the river rising, the Camp chose to direct its groundskeepers to spend over an hour evacuating camp equipment, not its campers and counselors," the lawsuit says.
The filing acknowledges that the camp staff tried to save the campers, but did so "too late."
"Finally, when it was too late, the Camp made a hopeless 'rescue' effort from its self-created disaster in which 25 campers, two counselors, and the Camp director died," the suit says.
An attorney for Camp Mystic, Jeff Ray, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday that the lawsuit included "misinformation" about the actions taken by the camp's leadership.
Ray also said that the scale of the flooding, despite the camp being located in a flood-prone area, was beyond what anyone at the camp could have predicted.
"We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area," Ray said.
Another family — that of 8-year-old Eloise "Lulu" Peck, who died in the flood at the camp — have also sued the camp and other defendants.
That lawsuit claims that the camp's owners knew the camp was "in the bullseye of potential flood waters from the Guadalupe River and never said a word about it to trusting parents."
It further claims that the camp has been operated for generations by the same family, and that since discovering the potential flood threat the owners have been playing "Russian Roulette with the lives of the little girls."
That lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $1 million for wrongful death, metal pain and anguish, and other issues.
The tragedy at the camp occurred on July 4, when slow-moving thunderstorms raised the water in the nearby Guadalupe River by more than 20 feet over the course of a few hours, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
Once the water overtook the edge of the Guadalupe, it swept over Kerr County, killing at least 117.
Camp Mystic has announced plans to partially reopen next year with a monument honoring the victims.
The Independent has requested comment from Camp Mystic.
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