(NEW YORK) — Camp Mystic announced plans to reopen one site of its summer camp a year after flash flooding killed 27 campers and counselors on Texas’ Guadalupe River on the Fourth of July earlier this year.
The summer camp made the announcement on Tuesday, saying it will be designing and building a memorial “dedicated to the lives of the campers and counselors lost on July 4th.”
“We hope this space will serve as a place of reflection and remembrance of these beautiful girls,” the camp’s statement read. “We continue to pray for the grieving families and all those who lost loved ones.”
The summer program officials said that Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, a sister site that opened in 2020, will be open in summer 2026, while Camp Mystic Guadalupe River will not be able to reopen by then due to the devastating damage sustained earlier this year.
“We are working to implement new safety protocols and other changes that comply with the requirements of the recently passed camp safety legislation, the Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act,” Camp Mystic said in their letter announcing the reopening. “We will share more details as they become available in the coming weeks.”
Twenty-seven children and staff of Camp Mystic, an all-girls sleepaway camp located on the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, were killed by the floods in the middle of the night on July 4. some state leaders and environmental experts told ABC News in July that a number of the cabins were in known flood zones and close proximity to the river, according to officials and FEMA’s flood maps.
Texas’ rules and regulations about housing and construction and summer camps immediately came under scrutiny by environmentalists and urban planners. Though, in the case of Camp Mystic, which opened in 1926 and expanded throughout the years, many structures were built long before FEMA flood zones and other regulations were created and are likely to have approvals grandfathered in, Republican Texas Rep. Gary Gates, who chairs the state House’s Land & Resource Management Committee, told ABC this summer.
“We continue to evaluate plans to rebuild Camp Mystic Guadalupe River,” camp officials said. “Our planning and procedures will reflect the catastrophic 1,000-year weather event that occurred on July 4, including never having campers return to cabins that had floodwaters inside them. And, as at Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, our plans will comply with the requirements of the new camp safety.”
“The heart of Camp Mystic has never stopped beating, because you are Mystic. We are not only rebuilding cabins and trails, but also a place where laughter, friendship and spiritual growth will continue to flourish,” officials continued. “As we work to finalize plans, we will do so in a way that is mindful of those we have lost. You are all part of the mission and the ministry of Camp Mystic. You mean the world to us, and we look forward to welcoming you back inside the green gates.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
