It has been revealed that Camp Mystic’s co-owner waited over 45 minutes to begin evacuating campers after receiving an emergency alert warning of “life-threatening” flash floods.
Richard “Dick” Eastland — who tragically died while trying to rescue young girls at his all-girls Christian camp along the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas — received the initial alert from the National Weather Service on his phone around 1:14 a.m., according to a spokesperson for his family in a statement to ABC News.
However, evacuation efforts didn’t start until around 2:00 a.m., just as the conditions at the camp were rapidly worsening.
A cross was placed by the Guadalupe River, across from Camp Mystic, in the aftermath of the deadly floods.
“They had no indication of the true scale of what was approaching,” said family spokesperson Jeff Carr, speaking about the floods that killed 27 children and counselors.
“They got a standard run-of-the-mill NWS warning that they’ve seen dozens of times before,” Carr said.
According to Carr, Eastland began communicating with family members working at the camp via walkie-talkie immediately after receiving the alert, which did not include an evacuation order.
They began relocating campers to higher ground once they saw the rising floodwaters, he added.
Carr explained that the preliminary timeline was compiled after discussions with Eastland family members who worked at the camp and urgently assisted with the evacuation.
He emphasized that the family released the timeline to prevent speculation following the devastating flash floods that claimed the lives of 27 children and counselors.
