‘Replace the people that failed us.’ Former Kerr Co. IT official calls for change after flood alert delay

KERR COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) – The man who said he helped Kerr County implement an emergency alert system in his former role there as information technology director is now calling on top leaders to step down following a flash flood that killed more than 100 people.

John David Trolinger said he held that post for 15 years and retired in 2019. In a phone interview this week with KXAN Investigators, he called delays in issuing notifications to cellphones in the area “incompetence” and “a leadership failure.”

“I don't see anything that the county needs to do differently other than get a new sheriff and a new emergency manager,” Trolinger said. “I don't think there's any solution other than to replace the people that failed us.”

Evidence collected by KXAN – including dispatch audio and FEMA data – shows county officials did not send alerts for hours after a National Weather Service warning, and more targeted alerts did not go out for days.

“I know that’s going to be asked over and over,” Sheriff Larry Leitha said when questioned about the timeline of the alerts in a press conference following the July 4 flood. “Please understand that… We’re not going to hide from everything, that’s going to be checked into at a later time.”

On Thursday, a joint information center established by area agencies to coordinate responses to media inquiries related to the flood told KXAN a “complete review of the incident” was “well underway,” adding – at this stage – it “would not be appropriate to comment on statements made by a former Kerr County employee.”

“I'm telling you, on this public information, you're going to be stonewalled,” Trolinger said. “You will be made to feel guilty just for asking for the information.”

Trolinger said he retired over disagreements with County Judge Rob Kelly. Questions for Kelly and other county officials have not been answered directly. Local officials have said they are suspending the legal timeline for responding to such requests “due to the catastrophic flooding of the Guadalupe River.”

Before directing KXAN to the information center himself, Emergency Management Coordinator W.B. “Dub” Thomas replied, saying: “We will not be responding to your email below or future messages.” Thomas, who has served in that role since 2015, is also at the center of Trolinger’s frustration.

“It's [Thomas’] responsibility – the emergency manager – to get the messages from the state and from the weather service and prepare everyone – like the county judge and the dispatchers – to let them know that there's some event coming to watch out for.”

Trolinger said Thomas should have made that decision the day before the flood – on July 3, following an NWS flood watch for Kerr County.

“And that’s why I’m so mad,” he added.

'Send a CodeRED'

The next morning – at 1:14 a.m. – the NWS issued a flash flood warning for a portion of the county. Hours later at 4:22 a.m. – still well before the river hits its height and any verified alerts issued by local officials went out – Kerr County dispatch audio obtained by KXAN from a credible source detailed an area volunteer firefighter requesting a CodeRED.

“Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?” he asked. The dispatcher replied: “We have to get that approved with our supervisor.”

CodeRED is a subscriber-based emergency alert system Trolinger helped establish in Kerr County during his tenure. Today, that system is connected to IPAWS – FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System – which allows the county to alert all phones in a geographical area, regardless of enrollment. But, Trolinger said, someone must still activate the notification manually.

“There's no automation at all,” he explained. “We've got an emergency manager, and he is responsible for this to be on the lookout, to be ready and be able to warn people and prepare them for this exact scenario.”

'What the river can do'

In a 2020 county commissioners meeting, Thomas spoke about connecting the already-established CodeRED process with IPAWS, detailing his knowledge of how it would work.

“If I use CodeRED, then I'll be able to – once I've taken the webinar for it – it'll show me how to access that – the IPAWS system via CodeRED,” Thomas said in archived video footage of the meeting.

Trolinger said Thomas and other county officials understood the system and its purpose, having used it effectively in the years between that meeting and the deadly flood.

“It's my feeling that the institutional memory of what the river can do is what was actually lost, not the system,” he said, pointing to longtime residents’ knowledge of historic flooding danger in the area – something Thomas even referenced in the 2020 video.

“We've been trying to get a new flood warning system here. We haven’t been able to do it.” Thomas told Kelly and commissioners before they approved upgrading the county’s alert system. “This is just another method of being able to communicate emergencies or disastrous type information to the public when they're here.”

Trolinger, Kelly and Leitha have not answered KXAN’s specific questions. We have requested records of their communication during those crucial hours and will update our coverage once that becomes available.

Beyond an explanation of what happened, Trolinger reiterated his hope for a change in county leadership.

“You need to have somebody… that understands what can happen and to educate the public so that they're well out of the riverbed before… the water’s rushing down the river,” he said.

KXAN Investigative Producer Dalton Huey and Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson contributed to this report.