Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has called on state officials to withhold renewing Camp Mystic’s youth camp license for the 2026 summer season until ongoing legislative investigations into last year’s deadly flooding tragedy are complete and any required safety improvements are made.
The July 4, 2025, flooding, which swept through the all-girls private Christian camp in Hunt, located about 85 miles northwest of San Antonio along the Guadalupe River, claimed the lives of 28 victims, including 25 young campers aged 8 to 10, two teenage counselors, and camp director Dick Eastland.
The Camp Mystic flooding was part of a broader disaster that claimed over 130 lives across central Texas, including at least 100 in Kerr County.
In a letter dated Feb. 23 addressed to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Commissioner Dr. Jennifer Shuford, Patrick expressed deep concern over reports that Camp Mystic is already soliciting and accepting applications for the upcoming camp season.
“Twenty-eight lives were taken, and until these deaths are investigated and any necessary corrective actions are taken to ensure this never happens again, a camp license should not be issued to Camp Mystic,” Patrick wrote.
The Republican lieutenant governor highlighted that the Texas Senate has formed a General Investigating Committee on the July 2025 Flooding Events, set to convene jointly with a House committee this spring to examine the facts. “I expect, after those facts are determined, there may be necessary corrective actions for Camp Mystic to take to make sure future campers and counselors are safe and do not lose their lives,” he stated.
Patrick also sharply criticized the camp’s website for seemingly failing to acknowledge the disaster. “Camp Mystic’s public-facing website does not acknowledge the 28 deaths that occurred at their camp, nor does it acknowledge that the search for one little camper who lost her life is still ongoing,” he wrote, adding, “May God rest their souls.”
He also noted that “surprisingly,” Eastland, who was one of the victims, is “still named on their website as still being in charge, all as if 2025 never happened.”
A CP review found that Eastland was still listed under “directors and staff” on the Camp Mystic website as of Thursday.
In a personal note, Patrick added he “would not feel comfortable sending my grandchildren to a camp where 27 young girls lost their lives less than a year ago, particularly while key questions remain unanswered.” He concluded the letter by asking DSHS “please do not renew a 2026 license for Camp Mystic until all legislative investigations are complete, and any necessary corrective actions are taken.”
Camp Mystic responded to Patrick’s request with the following statement Wednesday to The Christian Post: “Camp Mystic Cypress Lake is in compliance with all aspects of the state’s new camp safety laws. There is, consequently, no regulatory basis to deny Camp Mystic Cypress Lake its license”
Clarifying that Cypress Lake is a separate property not adjacent to the Guadalupe River and sustained no significant flood damage, the camp reiterated an earlier invitation from October 22, 2025, to Patrick and committee members to tour the site, noting: “We would like to invite you and the members of the Committees to visit Camp Mystic at your convenience. Our family will always be available as a resource for the Committee as we believe having each member of the Committee physically tour the Camp location is the best and only way to learn exactly what happened.”
Patrick has not responded to this invitation, according to Camp Mystic.
The camp’s current license expires in early March.
