KERR COUNTY, Texas – A spokesperson for Camp Mystic said he is still working to confirm the timeline of events that led to the deaths of 27 campers and counselors on July 4th.
President of Griffin Communications Group, Jeff Carr, spoke on behalf of the camp and of its longtime owners and executive directors, Richard “Dick” Eastland and his wife, Tweety Eastland.
Dick Eastland lost his life trying to save the youngest campers from floodwaters.
Carr said he has been told by family members that Dick Eastland did receive the 1:14 a.m. National Weather Service flash flood warning.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, a Flash Flood Warning with “Considerable” tag was issued for Bandera and Kerr Counties, triggering Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) and NOAA Weather Radio notifications.
“It would have been impossible for him not to get that alert. Family members said it woke him up,” said Carr.
Carr said Eastland immediately began walking the property with a night watchman to assess conditions. Carr said Eastland also got on his “walkie-talkie” to notify family members working at the camp of the alert and instructed them to also begin assessing conditions on the property.
Carr said Eastland’s son told him he believes evacuations began between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. However, Carr cautions that the timeframe is tentative because “no one was looking at their watches.”
Carr said he is meeting with family members to develop a concrete timeline of events.
“I don’t yet know when the magnitude of what was coming became evident,” said Carr.
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gauge on the Guadalupe River at Hunt, the closest to Camp Mystic, showed water levels did not reach minor flood stage, 10 feet, until 3 a.m. By 4:30 a.m., the gauge, which stopped reporting data at 4:35 a.m., registered water levels of 29.45 feet. A temporary gauge brought in to that area reported the river cresting at 37.25 feet at 5:10 a.m.
However, Camp Mystic is roughly 5 miles upstream from that gauge, which means the camp would have experienced higher levels before reaching the gauge in Hunt.
