Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp where girls and counselors died in last July's Texas floods, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston.
The camp's court filing said its total debts were in the range of $10 million to $50 million and that total assets were between $1 million and $10 million.
The eight-page filing was signed by four members of the Eastland family that owns the nearly 100-year-old Camp Mystic; Martin A. Sosland, listed on the filing as the debtors' attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
State investigators released a scathing 115-page report faulting the camp for inadequate advance emergency planning, storm preparation, evacuations and incident management, and "The lessons to be learned from the camp’s inadequate emergency planning and response are worthy of careful study for opportunities to avoid similar future tragedies," the report's authors said.
The report said the hectic task of evacuating the camp fell on the shoulders of just three men: the camp's co-owner, his son and a security guard, and the co-owner, Richard "Dick" Eastland, died in the floods.
In late April Camp Mystic officials withdrew their application to reopen for the summer; in a statement at the time the camp acknowledged that "precious lives were lost" and said, "Respect for those voices requires that we step back now."
Victim families filed suit in November, accusing the operators of failing to take appropriate action as rising floodwaters approached the campgrounds and seeking more than $1 million in damages; Sarah Foss, global head of legal and restructuring at Debtwire, said the bankruptcy filing means those lawsuits are "temporarily paused."
Houston attorney Casey Garrett presented a review of the camp's policies in April based on interviews with approximately 150 people and said there was inadequate training or drills for counselors and campers; families and some officials, including Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, had called on the Texas Department of State Health Services to block Camp Mystic's license for the summer, and "The Texas Rangers have also opened a criminal investigation of Camp Mystic," Patrick said.
Jeff Ray, legal counsel for Camp Mystic, said in a statement, "We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area." He added, "We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well. We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course."
In total, last July's floods killed at least 136 people along the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country, and Cecilia "Cile" Steward, an 8-year-old Camp Mystic camper, remains missing.