The director of Camp Mystic was killed while trying to save girls from the horrific flooding that swept through the Texas summer camp.
Richard ‘Dick’ Eastland, 70, died while trying to rescue campers from the biblical rushing waters that struck the state on July 4.
At least 11 girls and one counselor are missing from Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, and five of their fellow campers have died after the rushing waters destroyed the all-girls private Christian summer camp.
The death toll has risen to at least 69 people, including 21 children after the Guadalupe River flooded and surged by up to 30 feet above its usual water level Friday.
Eastland’s nephew, Gardner Eastland, confirmed the death in a Facebook post on Saturday. The camp director’s wife, Tweety, was found safe at their home, according to Texas Public Radio.
Father-of-four Eastland died in a helicopter on the way to a Houston hospital, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told the Washington Post.
The Eastlands have owned and operated Camp Mystic since 1974, and many viewed him as a father figure at the camp.
‘It doesn’t surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers,’ The Kerrville Daily Times guest columnist Paige Sumner said in a tribute to Eastland.
‘Dick was the father figure to all of us while we were away from home at Camp Mystic for six weeks.
‘He was the father of four amazing boys, but he had hundreds of girls each term who looked up to him like a dad. I would never have taken a fishing class if it wasn’t taught by my new friend Dick.’
The couple has 11 grandchildren, and several of their children and their partners help manage the camp.
According to the camp website, the Eastland’s oldest son, Richard, manages the camp’s kitchen; their youngest son, Edward, and his wife are directors of Camp Mystic Guadalupe River.
The couple attended the University of Texas in Austin and reside at the camp grounds.
Eastland is the third generation from his family to run the all-girls Christian summer camp since its founding in 1926.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Camp Mystic on the banks of the Guadalupe River, where some 750 girls had been staying when the floodwaters hit, had been ‘horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster.’
‘The height the rushing water reached to the top of the cabins was shocking,’ he said on X after visiting the camp on Saturday.
Photos show the summer camp was destroyed after the deadly floodwaters wrecked the grounds.
Windows in the cabins were shattered and the interiors were completely covered in mud, with campers belongings in disarray.
At least five campers were killed when the unprecedented current slammed the camp.
Renee Smajstrla, eight, Janie Hunt, nine, and Alabama native Sarah Marsh, 8, all perished when the camp was washed away by the flood waters.
Best friends Lila Bonner, 9, and Eloise Peck, 8, were also killed in the devastating flooding.
The families of 11 other campers are desperately searching for their daughters as the death toll continues to rise.
Authorities were coming under scrutiny over whether the camps and residents received proper warning about the flash floods and whether enough preparations were made.
The flooding in the middle of the night caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise.
The National Weather Service escalated the alert to a flash flood warning at 1am Friday, then a more serious Flash Flood Emergency by 4.30am – but by this stage water was already pouring into families’ homes.
