As deadly storms in Texas subside, eyes turn to gov't response to floods
As the storms that had battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to subside, more attention was being paid to the government's response.
Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as 'flash flood alley'.
At public briefings, officials in hard-hit Kerr County have deflected questions about what preparations and warnings were made as forecasters warned of life-threatening conditions.
'We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,' Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said on Monday. 'We're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.'
Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. But many were caught by surprise.
Debate has also intensified over how state and local officials reacted to weather alerts forecasting the possibility of a flash flood and the lack of an early warning siren system that might have mitigated the disaster.
On Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick promised that the state would 'step up' to pay for installing a flash-flood warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments 'can't afford it'.
'There should have been sirens,' Patrick said in a Fox News interview on Monday. 'Had we had sirens here along this area … it's possible that we would have saved some lives.'
The Houston Chronicle and New York Times reported that Kerr County officials had considered installing a flood-warning system about eight years ago, but dropped the effort as too costly after failing to secure a $1m grant to fund the project.
In San Antonio and in Washington, Democrats are questioning whether cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) affected the forecasting agency's response to catastrophic and deadly flooding in Central Texas.
The White House and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have denied the allegations and accused them of 'politicising' the disaster.
The NWS's San Antonio office is responsible for forecasting the area's weather, collecting climate data and warning the public about dangerous conditions. Texas officials criticised the NWS over the weekend, arguing it failed to warn the public about impending danger.
The office issued a stream of flash flood warnings on Thursday and Friday across its digital and radio services, which are used to communicate with public safety professionals, according to alert records.
The messages grew increasingly urgent in the early hours of Friday morning. The team sent an emergency text message to area mobile phones at about 1:14 am, calling it a 'dangerous and life-threatening situation'.
Phones must have reception or be near a cell tower to receive that message, said Antwane Johnson, former director of the Public Alert Team for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mobile coverage is spotty in areas around the Guadalupe River, according to Federal Communications Commission records last updated in December.
'Even though those messages were issued, it does not mean it got to the people who needed them,' said Erik Nielsen, who studies extreme rain at Texas A&M University.
Here's a closer look at the timeline of how the floods hit Texas and what warnings were sent when:
July 2
The Texas Division of Emergency Management announces that the agency 'activated state emergency response resources in anticipation of increased threats of flooding in parts of West and Central Texas heading into the holiday weekend'.
In a statement, the agency urges Texans to 'monitor local forecasts and avoid driving or walking into flooded areas'.
July 3
9:47am (14:47 GMT) – The Texas Division of Emergency Management posts warnings on social media of 'the flood threat in West & Central TX'. These urge drivers to check road conditions before heading out and to turn around upon seeing water.
3:35pm (20:35 GMT)- The NWS Austin/San Antonio office issues a flood watch for portions of the western Hill Country.
11:14pm (04:14 GMT) – NWS issues a flash flood warning for Bandera County, marking the first official warning to go out.
July 4
1:14am (06:14 GMT) – A flash flood watch is issued for Bandera and Kerr counties. More than a dozen flash flood warnings for counties across the affected areas will be issued by mid-morning. A mobile alert goes out to all mobile phones with reception in the area. Three more warnings are sent in the next few hours, according to the New York Times.
3:30am (08:30 GMT) – The level of the Guadalupe River at Hunt in Kerr County has grown from 2.3 to 5.1 metres (7.7 to 16.8 feet), according to the New York Times. With the water so high, the gauge goes offline for an estimated three hours.
4:35am (09:35 GMT) – The river level hits 8.8m (29 feet) in Hunt County, according to meteorologists at San Antonio TV station KSAT. The water makes its way rapidly downriver. Ten minutes later, it crests at 7m (23 feet) in Kerrville.
5-7am (10-12:00 GMT)- According to CBS, NWS sends out three mobile phone messages in Kerr County reading: 'This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!' News reports have noted that mobile service can be patchy in the more rural parts of Kerr County, and that some residents, accustomed to seeing flood warnings, were inclined to ignore them.
5:15am (10:15 GMT) – NWS reports 'record high' water in Hunt.
6:29am (11:29 GMT) – The City of Kerrville Police Department (KPD) urges all residents who live near the Guadalupe to evacuate. 'This is a life threatening event,' the KPD writes in a Facebook post. 'Do not wait.'
7am (12:00 GMT) – The KPD and firefighters begin evacuating residents. Reunification sites and shelters are set up across town, including at a church and Walmart.
9:30am (14:30 GMT) – The Kerr County Sheriff's Office announces fatalities, saying it will not release details until the next of kin have been notified. 'This is a catastrophic flooding event,' reads a Facebook post. 'The entire county is an extremely active scene. Residents are encouraged to shelter in place and not attempt travel. Those near creeks, streams, and the Guadalupe River should immediately move to higher ground.'
Throughout the morning and afternoon, news of fatalities trickles out. Officials announce that around 20 children are unaccounted for at Camp Mystic. The camp later confirmed that 27 campers and counsellors died.
3:45pm (20:45 GMT) – The river gauge begins recording again, according to the New York Times. By now, the level at Hunt has dipped back to 9 feet. Although rains continue to lash the region, the river reaches extreme heights as it moves further downstream.
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