‘We are better than this': Lawmakers address flood response

AUSTIN (KXAN) – With more than 100 people dead in Kerr County, including young campers, and two people still missing, lawmakers convened Wednesday to address what went wrong and find solutions.

“We are better than this,” said Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso. “We’ve lost a lot in this. And it could have been better – both before, during and after – we know that. And that’s not a blame game. That’s accountability.”

For the first time this special session, the Texas House and Senate Committees on Disaster Preparedness met for a rare joint hearing. Outside the chamber, there was anger from some residents impacted by the Fourth of July flooding.

“There should have been an evacuation early in the day,” said Joseph Shopp. “Not two o’clock in the morning … this was a complete failure.”

‘0 to 200 mph’

Two days before the disaster, on July 2, the Texas Division of Emergency Management says it activated the state’s emergency response sending resources – including a rescue boat to Kerr and Tom Green counties – anticipating what it called “heavy rainfall with the potential to cause flash flooding across West Texas and the Hill Country.”

“We knew we were going into a holiday weekend,” TDEM Chief Nim Kidd told lawmakers. “We knew that we needed to ensure resources were available from those local governments that we would want to stand up for water teams, for search and rescue teams, for medical teams, if they were needed.”

He said the “area of concern” was 35,000 square miles across Texas.

“The forecast for those 44 counties [of concern] in that area was, again, one to three inches of rain,” Kidd told lawmakers. He said that was relayed to 468 local government participants in a July 3 weather call that Kerrville’s mayor previously said he did not receive an invite to join.

The severity of the storm caught everyone by surprise, Kidd said, highlighting a summary of alerts from the National Weather Service offices in Austin/San Antonio and San Angelo from July 3 into the early morning hours of July 4:

• 3:20 p.m.: NWS Austin/San Antonio said heavy rains possible especially western Hill Country. Chances of rain decrease Friday.

• 6:56 p.m.: NWS Austin/San Antonio said showers increasing across Hill Country expanded through the evening.

• 7:37 p.m.: Flash flood watch in effect for Hill Country. Rains will decrease for July 4 but isolated showers may continue.

• 8:21 p.m.: Flash flood watch for Bexar, Gillespie, Kendall, Llano. Advisories for Mason, McCulloch and San Saba counties.

• 8:54 p.m.: NWS Austin/San Antonio reported 1-3 inches of rain, 5-7 inches less likely across the flood watch area.

• 9:30 p.m.: NWS Austin/San Antonio reported pockets of heavy rain in Kendall County headed towards Gillespie and Blanco counties; 1-2 inches of rain have fallen within the last three hours and more rain on the way.

• 11:17 p.m.: NWS Austin/San Antonio reported pockets of rain across Hill Country. Flash flood watch remains in effect until 7 a.m. advising to ‘turn around, don’t drown.’

• 1:06 a.m.: NWS Austin/San Antonio reported very heavy rain in Bandera, Kerr and Gillespie counties; 2-3 inches of rain per hour.

• 1:14 a.m.: First flash flood warning issued from Ingram and Hunt until 4:15 a.m.; 1-2 inches of rain have fallen, expected 2-3 inches of rain per hour, 1-2 additional inches expected. Flash flood ongoing or expected.

• 1:32 a.m.: Flash flood warning includes 13 counties: Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Brunet, Edwards, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Kinney, Llano, Medina, Real and Uvalde; 1-3 inches of rain likely, 5-7 inches possible across the flood area.

• 2:37 a.m.: Flash flood watch expanded until 1 p.m.; 1-3 inches of rain expected in Hill Country, 5-7 inches possible. Excessive runoff may result in flooding of low-lying areas, rivers, creeks and low-water crossings.

• 3:08 a.m.: “Very dangerous” flash flood event south central Kerr County; 3-7 inches of rainfall in last 2-3 hours. Flash flood warning. ‘Turn around, don’t drown,’ again advised.

• 3:19 a.m.: Guadalupe River in Hunt is at 11 feet, expected to crest at 16.6 feet.

• 3:33 a.m.: Flash flood warning for the Guadalupe River in Hunt and Kerr and Bandera counties until 7 a.m.

• 4 a.m.: Guadalupe River in Hunt is at 19.4 feet, expected to crest at 23.8 feet.

• 4:23 a.m.: “This is a flash flood emergency.” Five-to-10 inches of rain expected over the next 3-6 hours.

About 30 minutes later, Kidd received word that people were trapped on their roofs.

“We know what happened after that,” he said.

“We’re really going to have to have an extended discussion … with the National Weather Service about these type of alerts and the speed at which they came out,” Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, told lawmakers. Afterward, Bettencourt’s X account reiterated online what he mentioned during the hearing.

“We’re not even going from zero to 60 [mph],” he told lawmakers, “we’re going from zero to 200 miles an hour in three hours and 17 minutes.”

‘A better system for warning’

The discussion also touched on initial confusion, highlighted in Kerr County dispatch audio previously obtained by KXAN’s investigative team. In the audio, at 4:23 a.m., an Ingram volunteer firefighter is heard telling a Kerr County sheriff dispatcher: “The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39. Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”

The dispatcher responds: “We have to get that approved with our supervisor.”

CodeRed is an opt-in notification system some agencies use to send emergency alerts to subscribers’ cell phones.

Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, read from a transcript.

“But the supervisor, it says here, couldn’t be immediately available on the phone,” he said. “Just another example of why we need to get this professionalized.”

Along with calls for more training, and statewide standards and qualifications for emergency management coordinator positions, lawmakers also brought up failures in communication equipment, like radios used by first responders.

“But the supervisor, it says here, couldn’t be immediately available on the phone,” he said. “Just another example of why we need to get this professionalized.”

Along with calls for more training, and statewide standards and qualifications for emergency management coordinator positions, lawmakers also brought up failures in communication equipment, like radios used by first responders. During the last regular session, Moody co-authored House Bill 13, in part, to fix problems with interoperability. It failed to pass. Among those voting against it then was Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, whose district includes Kerr County. He now sits on this special committee.

“Government sometimes has the problem of overreacting to a situation, so I think it’s good to have thorough discussions,” Virdell told KXAN. “And, even if it takes a little while for that to happen, I think not overreacting immediately is a good thing.”

Virdell said weather warning sirens, which was part of HB 13, “should be on the table for discussion” but questioned how effective they would be.

“I do think they have their place but a lot of times if you’re indoors, especially four o’clock in the morning when it’s pouring down rain, the likelihood is going to be that you’re not going to hear those sirens.”

For Virdell, the “real question” is “when’s the right time to send alerts out and are we sending too many alerts out right now?” His other top priorities involve establishing a disaster relief fund and helping homeowners rebuild. Cities that use sirens, like San Marcos, have called them a “vital tool for emergency preparedness” in addition to weather radios and mobile alerts.

There was no public testimony at this hearing. The joint committee will reconvene on July 31 in Kerrville to hear directly from residents and officials impacted by the flooding.

“Do we need a better system for warning? Yes,” Kidd told lawmakers. “What does that look like? I don’t know.”