Kerr County's emergency management coordinator acknowledged Thursday that he was ill and asleep when rain inundated the Hill Country community early July 4.
Will Thomas told lawmakers during a legislative hearing in Kerrville that his wife woke him at 5:30 a.m. with a call from the city "requesting that I mobilize." At that point, floodwaters had already torn through Kerrville.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said he was also asleep in the early morning hours of July 4. Deputies on duty called him before dawn to notify him of the situation. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who oversees emergency management, said he was out of town.
The officials' testimony was part of the special hearing state lawmakers called in Kerrville to hear from residents and local officials about the state and local response to the flooding in Central Texas that killed at least 130 people. Gov. Greg Abbott has asked lawmakers to introduce legislation during the current special session to address concerns raised by the floods, including how residents were warned about the rising Guadalupe River and how quickly they received aid.
While acknowledging the surprising volume of rain that night, some lawmakers questioned what appeared to be confusion at the local level.
"The three guys in Kerr County who were responsible for sounding the alarm were effectively unavailable," said state Sen. Ann Johnson, a Democrat from Houston.
Mike Richards arrived at the hearing 30 minutes early to make sure he was able to testify. He told The Texas Newsroom that after the flood he found 10 bodies on land he owns in Center Point, an unincorporated area in Kerr County.
"I didn't get no help from the state or the government," he said. "FEMA's a joke and it needs to be abolished. The state is broken."
A former police officer, Richards said he's still receiving calls from family members and volunteers who are in tears over the devastation.
Local officials told lawmakers harrowing stories of dispatchers receiving calls from people needing rescues from roofs as the floodwaters rose more than expected.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said deputies trying to reach survivors encountered swamped crossings and lost their vehicles to the rising water. He said one deputy reported hearing children screaming from the river and that when a rescue boat was en route to arrive in 10 minutes, a deputy reported, "the kids don't have 10 minutes."
While lawmakers avoided pointing fingers at the hearing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick laid into Judge Kelly for not being at the press conference Abbott held immediately after the flood on July 4.
"Everyone was here that day working their ass off and you were nowhere to be found," Patrick said.
Johnson asked Thomas how the county warned Camp Mystic of the rising Guadalupe River. Twenty seven campers and staffers of the all-girls camp died in the flooding.
"It is my understanding that there were little girls with water around their feet at 2 a.m. that were told, 'Stay in your cabin.' And those little girls did what they were told. What was the protocol to warn people when that scenario comes up?" she asked Thomas after his testimony.
Thomas told Johnson the camp should have notified the sheriff's office of flooding. But Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said he did not receive any such notification from Camp Mystic.
Public testimony is expected to continue well into the evening.
This story will be updated throughout the day as the hearing progresses. Larry Kaplow and Ana Campbell contributed to this reporting.
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