Camp Mystic victim expresses fear of being swept away before July floods hit

AUSTIN, Texas - One of the victims of the Camp Mystic flooding expressed her fear of being swept away just two months before the flood hit. 

The heartbreaking revelation is part of a new lawsuit against camp operators.

The premonition of an 8-year-old flood victim was made just before she left for camp. Her Austin attorney spoke about the lawsuit he filed.

The backstory:

Before the floodwater started to recede on the Guadalupe River, claims were already being made that no one could have predicted such a tragic event would take place. But what happened was not an act of God, according to Austin attorney Randy Howry.

"A lot of excuses are being made even by Mystic after the fact. What we know is that they didn't do things the right way. They had no policies and procedures in place. They have no evacuation plan in place," said Howry, who represents 8-year-old Eloise "Lulu" Peck and her parents.

In the lawsuit that Howry filed for her family, an entry from the 8-year-old's sketchbook was included. She indicated a fear of thunderstorms and darkness. She also wrote the words natural disasters and flood and made a drawing of water surging into buildings. The entry was done a few weeks before Lulu left for Camp Mystic.

"When these folks, like my clients, dropped their little girls off at camp. They expected they would have a good experience. They would have fun, be taken care of, make lifelong friends. They did not expect that they would not be able to pick up their kids. Except to take them to a funeral home. And it's just uncalled-for. And we certainly hope that a jury ultimately in this case holds this camp accountable for their conduct that night and hope that the message is don't let this happen again anytime, anyplace, anywhere," said Howry.

The attorney for Camp Mystic is San Antonio attorney Jeff Ray. In response to the lawsuits, Ray issued a statement last week that read in part:

"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.

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."

Dig deeper:

The Peck lawsuit is one of three that have been filed since the flooding. Each lawsuit accused the camp owners of negligence, citing past FEMA flood maps that showed cabins in high-risk areas, an inadequate disaster plan, as well as failing to respond to advisories and warnings before the flooding happened.

"At the end of the day, this is a classic argument that they placed profits over safety," said Howry.

According to Peck's lawsuit, Camp Mystic continued to "play Russian Roulette with the lives of the little girls." 

The lawsuits are being filed in Travis County, for trial in Austin. That's because the registered office for Camp Mystic is in Travis County and the surviving primary owner lives there. 

All the lawsuits are seeking at least $1 million in damages. Howry said Kerr County officials were not named in his lawsuit because that could require the trial to be moved out of Travis County.