Hero Texas camp director Dick Eastland fought for years for better flood warning systems

The hero Camp Mystic director Richard “Dick” Eastland had battled floods on the grounds for decades and even once saw his pregnant wife airlifted from the property because of a deluge, prompting him to repeatedly urge for better warning systems in his flood-prone Kerr County.

Eastland — who perished trying to save young girls at his Hunt, Texas, camp on the Guadalupe River — had fought for an early flood alert system after the grounds were repeatedly inundated.

Last week’s devastating flash floods killed 27 people who were on the Central Texas camp grounds and killed a least 118 people total in the region. There were roughly 750 people at Camp Mystic at the time.

But flood waters plagued the camp grounds regularly for the 99 years it’s been around since.

Eastland — who in prior years had sat on the Upper Guadalupe River Authority’s board — returned to the board in 2022 after he was appointed by by Gov. Greg Abbott.

In April, the board voted to hire a company to put in place a data monitoring system for emergency flood response. Work had been slated to begin on it this month.

“The river is beautiful,” Eastland told the Austin American-Statesman in 1990. “But you have to respect it.”

Five years earlier, Eastland’s wife Tweety — who was pregnant with their fourth child — had to be evacuated from the Central Texas camp to a hospital since it was cut off at the by floodwaters, CNN reported, citing local news.

In the late 1980s, Eastland successfully petitioned for an early warning system to be implemented after 10 kids at a neighboring camp died in 1987 when they were swept away in a flood.

That system was retired roughly a decade later in 1999 as it became antiquated and unreliable.

While a few flood gauges are in place today, no new global warning system was ever installed after due to a lack of funding, a lack of state support and because of some local opposition.

Eastland was a stalwart in the community since he and Tweety bought the all-girls Christian camp in 1974.

The camp was originally established in 1926 and had seen devastating floods nearly since the start, with several cabins getting swept away in 1932, according to local newspapers.