3 top officials were asleep or out of town when deadly Texas floods hit
Emergency management coordinator William B Thomas and Sheriff Larry Leitha told Texas lawmakers at a hearing in Kerrville on Thursday that they were asleep when the flash floods hit overnight. Judge Rob Kelly, Kerr County's top executive, said he was out of town.
The downpour and flash flood killed at least 135 people in the state, while hundreds of others were forced to evacuate their homes.
Kerr County was the hardest hit, where at least 95 people - including those at the all-girls Camp Mystic - were killed.
In the wake of the deadly tragedy, officials were criticised and questioned over whether adequate warnings were provided and what top officials were doing.
Mr Thomas, in his first public remarks since the disaster, explained that he had been feeling ill in the days leading up to the flood, and "remained in bed" throughout 3 July.
"My supervisors and the sheriff's office leadership were aware I was off-duty," he testified.
He said there was no indication that day about the flood risk or the disaster that would later strike.
Mr Thomas told state lawmakers that he was woken up around 05:30 (11:30 BST) the next morning, when he was asked to immediately report to the sheriff's office.
Sheriff Larry Leitha testified that he went to bed on 3 July "with zero worries".
He said the weather report at the time shared "good news that we were finally about to get some rain", and added that he had "no idea, no warning" about the catastrophe that was about to unfold.
Judge Rob Kelly, whose position functions as the county's chief executive officer, testified that he was away "at our lake house preparing for a family gathering".
He also said that there was no flood alerts issued in the days before the disaster, and the intense flooding wasn't forecast by the National Weather Service.
Questions have been raised about whether authorities provided adequate flood warnings before the disaster, and why people were not evacuated earlier.
Experts say there were a number of factors that contributed to the tragedy in Texas, including extreme weather, the location of some homes and timing.
Governor Greg Abbott said authorities had issued a storm warning and knew about a possible flash flood, but "didn't know the magnitude of the storm".
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