Texas officials face questions about emergency alerts during floods

Texas officials are facing mounting questions about when Kerrville’s residents were notified about deadly flash floods that killed 96 locals, with over 160 others still missing.

Asked about a possible police radio failure at a press conference on Thursday – almost a week after 4 July flooding – Kerrville Police community services officer Jonathan Lamb said, “I don’t have any information to that point.”

The questioning followed a tense exchange the day before when reporters asked officials repeatedly about a possible lag in emergency communications.

Early Friday, the Guadalupe River rose several metres in a matter of minutes, after an estimated 100bn gallons of rain.

At least 120 people have died in the Texas Hill Country flash floods. Kerr County, which includes Kerrville, absorbed the brunt of the devastation, with 96 confirmed deaths, including 36 children, many of whom attended a nearby Christian camp.

Kerr County officials have been pressed on the various reasons behind the tragedy.

According to an audio recording obtained by an ABC News affiliate, a firefighter located upstream from Kerrville asked the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office to alert nearby residents about the rising water around 04:22 local time on 4 July.

But, ABC News reported, Kerr County officials did not notify residents until nearly six hours later, after hundreds of people had been engulfed in floodwater.

The first alert from Kerr County’s CodeRED system did not arrive until roughly 90-minutes later, the news outlet reported.

“The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39,” the firefighter said in the dispatch audio obtained by ABC News. “Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”

“Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” a Kerr County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher replied.

Officials were asked during a press conference on Wednesday about any delays in emergency communications.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said he was first notified around the “four to five area”, and said prior to that “we’re in the process of trying to put a timeline”.

“That’s going to take a little bit of time,” he continued. “That is not my priority this time.”

He said he was instead focused on locating those missing and identifying victims. Over 160 people were still listed as missing on Thursday morning, including five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic.

Kerr County officials say they have not rescued anyone alive since the day of the floods.

Weather alerts preceded the storm. The National Weather Service sent several about rain and possible flooding starting Thursday afternoon, and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) activated state resources because of flooding concerns.

Officials have cited lack of cell phone service, no sense of the storm’s intensity and public desensitisation to such alerts in the flood-prone area, as reasons some did not evacuate.

President Donald Trump signed a federal disaster declaration at the request of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. This enabled the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy to Central Texas and open a disaster recovery centre in Kerr County.

Rescue efforts included over 2,100 responders on the ground, private helicopters, drones, boats and cadaver-detecting dogs. They are searching for the missing and the dead buried beneath mounds of mud-soaked debris.

“These large piles (of debris) can be very obstructive, and to get deep into these piles is very hazardous,” Lt Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department said on Wednesday.

“It’s extremely treacherous, time consuming. It’s dirty work. It’s the water still there. So, we’re having to go layer by layer, peeling these off, to make those recoveries,” he said.