Speaker
Jenny Gettin
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Jenny Gettin noted that 51 parents lost daughters and 38 kids lost sisters in the Camp Mystic flood.
The Eastland family's attorney says the shelter-in-place directive saved hundreds of girls, and that the real culprit was a freak 1,000-year flood that no plan could have anticipated. He also argues water came from the hillside, not the river — a claim disputed by the National Weather Service.
Two mothers who lost daughters in the Camp Mystic flood sit with Lester Holt and speak plainly: 27 girls died, and every one of those deaths was preventable. Their grief is matched only by their determination to get answers.
At dawn, as survivors gathered at the Rec Hall for roll call, cabin after cabin checked in. Then they called Bubble Inn — Ellen's cabin — and not a single girl answered. That silence was the first confirmation that something catastrophic had happened.
When bereaved mother Andrea Ferruzzo found the counselor's emergency manual in her late daughter's belongings, it read: 'Stay in your cabins. All cabins are in high, safe locations.' Cabins in high, safe locations that were completely submerged within hours. There were also no walkie-talkies.
The National Weather Service issued a life-threatening flash flood warning at 1:14 AM. According to parents' research, the camp didn't start moving girls until after 3 AM — a two-hour window during which the river was rising at a record rate. By the time evacuation began, it was already too late for the youngest cabins.
Letters Ellen Gettin wrote from Camp Mystic arrived home before her family did. Weeks later, they remain sealed. Doug says they're not ready. Jenny says opening them feels too permanent — like fully accepting she's gone.
Lucy Kennedy woke to thunder so loud the whole cabin stirred. Her counselors told her to grab a pillow and flashlight and be strong. By the time she reached the Rec Hall, floodwater was forcing everyone up to the second floor — where they waited for hours as it rose below them.
Texas lawmakers' 8-month probe concluded that Camp Mystic had no written emergency plans meeting state requirements, was not adequately prepared, and failed to evacuate in time despite ample opportunity to do so. Days later, the camp filed for bankruptcy.
Seven Houston mothers who lost daughters at Camp Mystic have formed an inseparable support group. They are the only people, each says, who truly understand what the others have been through. For them, there is a permanent divide: before July 4, and after.
Michael Watts argues the real failure was at the state level: nearly a decade ago, Texas lawmakers refused to fund an upstream flood detection system with sirens that would have given the camp enough warning to evacuate everyone safely. Without it, a text-only warning at 1:14 AM wasn't enough.
Before camp, 8-year-old Blakely asked her mother Lindsay if she would date again because she wanted a stepfather. The girl who had already lost her father and uncle to illness was sending her heart into the future. Lindsay found her wearing the Mystic necklace she'd given her.
When water swept through her cabin door and knocked her off her feet, Ainsley Bishara didn't wait for orders. She broke out a screen window and carried girls through chest-deep water three at a time to a nearby pavilion — and then up a steep, rain-soaked hill as the water kept rising.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Business 34%
- News 33%
- Society & Culture 33%
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