Dick Eastland, the co-owner and executive director of Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, received a National Weather Service Alert about "life-threatening" flash flooding, but did not begin evacuating campers for 45 minutes.
The alert came at 1:14 am on July 4, family spokesperson Jeff Carr told ABC News. Around 2:00 am, with floodwaters rising rapidly, Eastland started waking campers near the river, sending them to the recreation center on higher ground. Eastland lost his life trying to save girls from the rising waters of the Guadalupe River.
"They had no information that indicated the magnitude of what was coming," Carr said, describing the alert as similar to warnings the camp had received 'dozens of times before.'" Carr noted that the timeline remains preliminary, based on accounts from family members and the camp's night watchman.
The catastrophic flooding ultimately killed 27 children and counselors at the all-girls Christian camp. Some of the camp's cabins were built in the floodway of the Guadalupe River — an area officials had long described as "extremely hazardous" due to fast-moving floodwaters and debris.
The National Weather Service issued an even more urgent alert hours later, at 4:03 a.m., warning residents in Kerr County that it was a "particularly dangerous situation" and urging them to "seek higher ground now."
Eastland's family said he began coordinating via walkie-talkie immediately after the first alert to assess the risk before initiating evacuation. The tragedy has sparked questions about emergency preparedness and response at the camp as investigations continue.
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