Texas
Camp Mystic families sue Texas officials after deadly 2025 flood
Camp Mystic victims’ families sue owners, claiming negligence
After flooding killed 27 at Camp Mystic, the victims’ families are suing, claiming negligence and lack of emergency planning.
Straight Arrow News
Families of nine campers and counselors at Camp Mystic who died after destructive flooding swept across Central Texas in 2025 are suing health officials, claiming they failed to enforce an evacuation plan required by state law.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, Feb. 23, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, accuses Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) officials of deliberately failing to follow state law and depriving the victims of their “constitutional rights to life and bodily integrity.” The families are seeking general and compensatory damages and “all other relief that is equitable.”
The suit was filed against six DSHS officials, including Commissioner Jennifer Shuford, Timothy H. Stevenson, Jeffrey Adam Buuck, Annabelle Dillard, Lindsey Eudey, and Maricela Torres Zamarripa. The officials were involved in the oversight and inspection of Texas youth camps.
The lawsuit alleges that DSHS had licensed Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp at the edge of the Guadalupe River, despite the camp not having an evacuation plan as required by the state and camp safety rules. According to the suit, youth camps are mandated to have written emergency plans posted in each cabin.
But the suit states that 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic died on July 4, 2025, because “the camp had no plan to evacuate the riverside cabins where the girls slept.” The camp’s emergency policy had instructed campers not to evacuate during a flood, which “delayed moving girls to safety until it was too late,” according to the lawsuit.
“Last July 4th, the floods came and, inevitably, chaos ensued. Young campers and counselors were killed because the camp had no plan,” the lawsuit adds. “The camp is responsible, but so are the state officials who helped create this inexcusable risk to life by directing and executing a policy of non-compliance with Texas law.”
Camp Mystic has faced scrutiny for its actions since the catastrophic flooding, including its announcement of plans to reopen for business even as one victim of the disaster remains missing. On Monday, Feb. 23, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged the department not to issue a 2026 camping license to Camp Mystic.
The department did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on Monday, Feb. 23.
Lawsuit says Texas health inspector reported Camp Mystic had written emergency plan
In the early morning of July 4, 2025, flooding triggered by unrelenting rain that overwhelmed the Guadalupe River swept away dozens of girls at the historic camp.
The camp, founded in 1926, has many occupied structures, including some cabins located less than 250 feet from the river, according to the lawsuit. The area is prone to deadly floods due to its location in a low-lying area, known as “Flash Flood Alley,” the suit states.
In total, 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic died in the flood. The camp’s owner and director, Richard “Dick” Eastland, also died in the flood, reportedly while trying to save campers.
According to the lawsuit, DSHS has been responsible for oversight of Texas camps for more than 20 years. The department’s Youth Camp Program “licenses, inspects, provides outreach and education, and enforces rules and statutes related to youth camps,” the lawsuit states.
The suit alleges that while DSHS officials evaluated camps annually, the department’s inspectors “systematically ignored required safety rules” and failed to verify whether camps actually had plans to evacuate campers in case of a disaster as required by state law.
The lawsuit further alleges that the department licensed Camp Mystic despite the camp not having an evacuation plan.
The suit also states that DSHS inspector Torres Zamarripa had reported the camp had a written disaster plan about a year before the flooding. She visited the camp for its annual inspection two days before the flood and issued a report two days after the incident, stating again that the camp had required emergency plans and cited no violation, according to the lawsuit.
“DSHS officials quietly decided not to enforce this requirement. For at least a decade, they licensed a camp on the banks of a river, in the heart of ‘Flash Flood Alley,’ with no evacuation plan,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, officials knew the camp had an anti-evacuation plan – a ‘stay put’ policy.”
Camp Mystic faces scrutiny over plans to reopen
Last September, Camp Mystic announced plans to reopen at a nearby location with enhanced safety measures, including flood-warning river monitors, cabin speakers, and higher-capacity generators that would help maintain communication with emergency personnel.
“We are preparing for next summer at Camp Mystic Cypress Lake and we know that safety is of the utmost concern to all of you, as it is for us,” the statement read.
The camp said it was planning to reopen in late May 2026 and operate until early August for six terms, each lasting 10 days. The location expected to host campers is about 500 yards from the site that was destroyed by flooding.
The camp’s announcement drew widespread criticism, including the parents of one of the victims, Cecilia “Cile” Steward, the only child who remains missing after the flood and was presumed dead. The parents of the 8-year-old girl, CiCi and Will Steward, are suing the camp, members of the Eastland family who have run it for decades, and other owners.
“Cile was taken from us 7 months ago and while we recognize this lawsuit will not bring her back, we feel compelled to ensure the truth of Camp Mystic’s failures are exposed,” CiCi and Will Steward said in a statement earlier this month through their attorneys at the Austin, Texas-based Nix Patterson law firm.
The Stewards’ lawsuit was the latest filed over the deaths of campers. In November 2025, a group of other families of campers who died also sued for negligence.
Texas lieutenant governor says camp should not receive license for 2026 season
In a letter to the DSHS on Monday, Feb. 23, Patrick requested that state officials delay renewing Camp Mystic’s license for the summer 2026 camp season. The letter was shared on social media hours after the nine families filed the lawsuit against department officials.
“It has come to my attention that Camp Mystic is soliciting and accepting applications for the summer of 2026 camp season,” Patrick wrote in the letter. “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.”
The lieutenant governor noted that the Texas Senate and House are scheduled to hold a joint investigative hearing on the deadly flooding in the spring. According to Patrick, the state Senate established an investigating committee on the floods that will “gather the facts surrounding this extreme loss of life at Camp Mystic.”
“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,” Patrick added. “It would be naive to allow Camp Mystic to return to normal operations before all of the facts are known. Camp Mystic should have decided on their own to suspend operations this coming summer, but it appears they are planning for camp in 2026 and will likely be seeking your approval to operate with a renewed license.”
Contributing: Marc Ramirez and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY; Reuters
Texas
Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider

Lady Vols basketball is looking to add more pieces to its 2026-27 roster with high-level experience. After completing her junior season at Texas A&M, Fatmata Janneh has emerged as a Tennessee target for her final year of eligibility. According to her Instagram story on Sunday night, she is in Knoxville.
With the Aggies a year ago, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.4 points per game on 43.3% shooting from the field. She also showed off an ability to hit from range, posting 1.1 makes per game on 33% shooting from three.
Perhaps Janneh’s biggest strength is her rebounding, though. She ripped down 9.7 boards per contest, good for the fifth-most in the SEC. This featured 2.6 rebounds on the offensive end per outing.
Janneh also averaged 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. She appeared in 27 games, starting in each.
More From RTI: How Watching The NCAA Tournament Drew Terrence Hill Jr. To Tennessee Basketball
Janneh started her career with a pair of seasons at St. Peter’s. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double, posting 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. This made her a sought-after transfer in the portal before landing at Texas A&M as the nation’s leading defensive rebounder. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.
The forward is from London, England, attending Barking Abbey Sixth Form for her prep ball. She would be the second player from England to join the Tennessee roster if she committed. UT also added the commitment of incoming freshman and former Boston College signee Irene Oboavwoduo this offseason.
So far, Caldwell and the Lady Vols have landed five transfers in this portal cycle. This features Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Stanford forward Harper Peterson and Georgia forward Zhen Craft and guard Rylie Theuerkauf.
Tennessee will also roster a pair of incoming freshmen. Four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Gabby Minus is staying true to her signing despite the roster overhaul and assistant coaching changes, along with the addition of Oboavwoduo.
Texas
Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says
AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.
The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said.
The board’s latest estimates come as the state’s water supply faces numerous threats. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. This week, Corpus Christi officials said the city may be just months away from declaring a water emergency. Meanwhile, other rural cities by the Coastal Bend are rapidly drilling wells to avoid a crisis. Residents in North Texas have also been bracing for groundwater shortages.
In an effort to restrain the crisis, lawmakers last year called an election in which voters approved a $20 billion boost for communities to use on water-related expenses. The water development board’s estimate shows that what lawmakers proposed on the ballot falls dramatically short of the needed cash, experts said.
“What this number tells me at the end of the day is if we don’t get serious about (funding water projects), there are going to be serious consequences for Texas,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “Even with the billion-dollar-a-year plan kicking in, it’s not going to be enough to offset the costs of the projects that are going to have to be executed.”
The new estimate accounts for 3,000 projects, from regional infrastructure upgrades to smaller endeavors such as drilling new water wells. Texas’ water supplies are expected to drop by roughly 10% between 2030 and 2080, according to the water plan. In that same time frame, the maximum amount of water communities can draw is also expected to decline by 9%.
The 80-page plan notes approximately 6,700 recommended strategies that would add water to the state’s dwindling portfolio. The recommendations — which are not accounted for in the cost — include developing new supplies from aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater, desalination and recycled water. It also calls for water conservation.
The report suggested that if Texas does not implement the plans and recommendations, the state is one severe drought away from an estimated $91 billion in economic damages in 2030.
The state’s plan attributes a variety of reasons for the bigger price tag, such as higher costs of construction due to inflation, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and a growing backlog of water supply projects.
“There’s a plan that can meet our needs,” said Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for the Office of Planning at the water development board, adding that they take their cues from the regional planning groups. “These are local projects that folks need to implement; they’re needed regardless of how they’re funded. It’s important to remember these are not top-down projects or state projects.”
Experts told The Texas Tribune that the board’s estimate is only a fraction of what Texas communities will need to ensure they have water in 50 years’ time, saying growth and development are outpacing the state’s ability to keep up.
“This is a bigger water plan in terms of volume strategies and capital costs compared to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy at think tank Texas 2036.
Mazur suggested that the $174 billion only covers water supply projects and does not account for updating aging infrastructure, adding that the actual price could amount to a quarter of a trillion dollars.
“There’s a substantial magnitude with regard to the capital investment needed to both fix our aging and current systems and potentially develop the water infrastructure, water supply projects that we need.“
The report largely confirmed what many water experts have warned regarding threats to the state’s water supply, said Sarah Kirkle, director of policy at the Texas Water Association.
“Population growth, extreme weather, and economic development needs are all increasing demands on our infrastructure, and the state is going to need more water, sooner,” Kirkle said. “This is all while water projects are becoming more costly and complex because the easiest and cheapest local projects have already been developed.”
Fowler, with the infrastructure network, said he expects the Texas Legislature to take up the issue next year, when lawmakers meet for the 90th legislative session. He said the state should take a bigger role in ensuring that communities can afford their respective water projects.
“It’s going to have to be a top-down priority, there’s no way around it,” he said. “The challenges are so immense that it’s going to take all hands on deck.”
Texas residents have until the end of May to comment on the proposal. Water development board officials must adopt it by January 2027.
Alejandra Martinez contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas
Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say
A North Texas man reported missing earlier this week was found dead Friday, and police say a co‑worker has confessed to fatally shooting him and stealing his car.
The suspect, Gregory D. Lewis, 34, remains in custody and faces a forthcoming capital murder charge, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.
Lewis is accused of killing 31‑year‑old Thomas King, who had been last seen in his Taco Casa work uniform. King was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to return home Monday from the fast‑food restaurant in the 1100 block of Bridgewood Drive.
Car found at Arlington motel
Police said King’s car was found at the Quality Inn on I‑20 in Arlington, and surveillance video showed Lewis arriving in King’s vehicle shortly after King left work.
Detectives identified the man in the video and arrested him on unrelated charges.
Body discovered on Fort Worth’s East Side
King’s body was located on Friday in an open field on Fort Worth’s East Side, authorities said.
According to police, Lewis confessed to shooting the victim and stealing his car.
Medical examiner review pending
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
CBS News Texas has reached out to Taco Casa for comment.
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