Camp Mystic, a Christian camp in Texas, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization after catastrophic floods killed 28 people, including 25 girls and 2 teenage counselors, nearly a year ago.
Background
The camp, located along the Guadalupe River, listed its debt as more than $10 million and assets in the range of $100,001 to $500,000 in paperwork filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas in Houston.
Families of the victims filed a lawsuit in November seeking more than $1 million in damages, saying the camp operators failed to take the necessary steps to protect the girls as life-threatening floodwaters approached on July 4. Camp owner Richard Eastland also died in the flood.
The destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
Aftermath
The bankruptcy filing comes weeks after Camp Mystic halted plans to reopen this summer in the face of outrage from victims’ families and lawmakers that the century-old camp intended to welcome girls back while lawsuits and investigations remained ongoing.
Camp Mystic’s attorney had said it was ready to reopen for business for nearly 900 campers before the camp’s reversal in April. The decision followed weeks of testimony in court hearings and legislative investigations that laid bare the camp’s lack of detailed planning for a flood emergency and its reliance on poorly trained staff.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
