(The Center Square ) – Three men charged with ensuring the safety of residents were “unavailable” on the day disaster struck, killing 108 in their county, including 37 children. Two remain missing.
The three men were all asleep, including Sheriff Larry Leitha; the county emergency coordinator William Thomas was sick and took off; the county judge, Rob Kelly, was on vacation in Travis County. No backup plan was in place in the absence of Thomas and Kelly, and the emergency management official for Kerrville retired July 3, lawmakers found at a legislative hearing held in Kerrville on Thursday.
The latest death count in Kerr County from the July 4 flood is 108; two remain missing. Overall, 137 have been confirmed dead in several counties in the Hill Country.
State lawmakers repeatedly asked panelists about preventative measures taken while those testifying discussed recovery efforts. All three men appeared to be confused when questioned about why they did not have emergency preparedness in place.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Kelly he was nowhere to be found on July 4 and should have been there; Thomas argued safety infrastructure was the responsibility of vacationers, visitors and the state, not the county, The Center Square reported.
They also appeared to brush off calls for their resignation by constituents. None took responsibility for failing to implement preparedness measures ahead of the storm, saying the flooding was a 1,000-year event and no one could have known.
State lawmakers, including Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, asked a series of questions about preparedness that the men appeared unable to answer or understand. Johnson represents many constituents in Houston who lost family members, including children, on July 4.
“The three guys in Kerr County who were responsible for sounding the alarm were effectively unavailable, am I hearing that right?” Johnson asked.
“What alarm are you talking about?” Leatha replied.
She then repeated Leatha’s testimony, in which he gave a timeline of emergency response. At 3:30 a.m. when calls came in that people were on their roof, Leatha had said that was the time “it was all hands on deck.” But he was sleeping. He also testified that he went to sleep on July 3 like it was “just another day.”
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency warning at 1:14 am and no emergency warning or evacuation order was issued by any of the three men in charge in the county. The earliest warning that was issued was after 5 a.m. Thomas wasn’t organizing responses until 6 am, and no one was organizing anything until after Texas Department of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd began making calls, according to testimonies and timelines given.
“You didn’t wake up until 4:20, the judge is in Lake Travis and the emergency manager is sick,” Johnson said to Leatha.
Leatha said, “my people were out there doing the job.”
“This was a weather event nobody had ever seen. If we could do it better, because we cannot go back in time and save these children, but knowing now what you know now, is there a protocol that needs to be put in place if the three folks who are responsible at this moment are not available for whatever reason, what should we do?” she asked.
“We can look at that real hard,” he replied.
He also testified that a “code red” was issued at 5:01 a.m. after a request for one had been made by a dispatcher at 4:22 am, describing rescue efforts.
Johnson reiterated what other lawmakers said, their focus was on preparedness, or lack thereof.
“It is our responsibility to look at, is there ability to better predict? Is there ability for better preparedness and for better prevention? My questions are purposely intended to figure out now that you have the gift of hindsight,” she said. She also cited the 2015 Wimberley catastrophic flood, and Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017 that devastated Houston that she experienced.
“Unfortunately, y’all have now experienced something you are saying, ‘I have never heard of or seen this before.’ We’ve experienced it in other parts of Texas. And if we can’t take advantage of this moment right now, for the rest of Texas to recognize, you may not think it’s going to happen to you but it’s going to happen.
“If we’re not prepared for the extreme weather, the system that stalls, then we’re not taking advantage of this moment,” she said.
She again asked if there was “an existing system that could have gone out to people in floodwaters way to reach higher ground or are you missing that system?”
Leatha said the code red system exists and “they did not send the code red.”
