Chilling 911 call played as Camp Mystic leadership defends response to fatal 2025 flood

Camp Mystic reopening hearing: Day 2

A hearing continues to see whether parts of Camp Mystic can reopen this summer. Twenty-seven people lost their lives at the camp during the July 4 floods last year.

AUSTIN, Texas - The directors of Camp Mystic tried to defend their response to last year's flood disaster where 27 campers and counselors died. They testified at a hearing as families tried to block the opening of the camp for this upcoming summer.

For day two of the hearing, the plaintiff's attorney played a 911 call in court. 

Counselor’s 911 call reveals hours of silence

What we know:

The 911 call played in court was from a Camp Mystic counselor who said they were trapped in a cabin and had been trying to get a hold of their camp director for more than four hours, with no luck.

27 campers and camp counselors at Camp Mystic died in the Kerr County flash flood on July 4th of 2025. Camp leadership is now in court after a lawsuit was filed by the family of camper Cile Steward, who was 8 years old when she died in the flood. Her body has still not been found.

Steward's family is asking the judge to prevent the camp from reopening this summer and to block any renovations being made at the camp while their lawsuit proceeds, and they continue to search for their daughter’s body.

Camp Director Mary Liz Eastland testifies

Camp Mystic directors defend response to deadly floods

Directors of Camp Mystic were grilled in court on Tuesday over their response to the deadly floods that killed nearly 30 campers and counselors last summer. FOX 4's Alex Boyer has more.

What they're saying:

On Tuesday, the plaintiff's legal team grilled one of the camp directors, Mary Liz Eastland, the wife of Edward Eastland. Edward testified on day one of the hearing and continued on the stand for day two, before Mary.

Mary Liz Eastland was in charge of Camp Mystic counselors.

One of those counselors called 911 saying that she and a group of campers had been stuck in a cabin for four hours and had been unable to reach Eastland.

Those in the courtroom heard part of that call, along with Eastland's interaction with the attorney.

Mary testified that during the flash flood, she and her four boys were in their own cabin that started to take on water. She said they evacuated to an empty cabin on higher ground.

Legal fight to stop Camp Mystic reopening

Dig deeper:

Mary also testified she never tried to get a hold of the counselors on the camp's PA system. When Eastland explained that she was in a different spot and didn't have her keys on her during the start of the flooding, the attorney argued that Eastland's children were the only ones under her care that were helped.

"It seemed like you only helped the children whose names were Eastland. Is that correct?" asked the attorney.

She responded to the attorney, telling her that those were the only ones that she could get to.

"These were first year campers. You had 34 more years of experience than Cile. She needed your help, and you abandoned her, didn't you?" the attorney asked.

"Yes," Mary said after a pause.

What's next:

The Texas Rangers say they're also investigating allegations of neglect.

The hearing continues tomorrow.