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NBC News
5 hours ago
- Climate
- NBC News
Texas officials defend response to deadly floods: 'We saved as many people as we could'
CENTER POINT, Texas — Local and state officials who responded to the catastrophic flooding this month in Central Texas defended their actions in an interview with NBC News, saying they did everything in their power to save lives and are now considering what more could be done to prevent future tragedies. 'Our teams did everything that they possibly could with this gruesome, devastating situation that happened, and we would not change the way we did that. And I think we saved as many people as we could,' Dalton Rice, the city manager of Kerrville, said. He spoke with NBC News alongside Jeff Holt, a Kerr County commissioner, and state Rep. Wes Virdell, over the weekend, before a new round of heavy rain and flooding threatened parts of the region. The officials said they did their best to coordinate evacuations and rescues against uncontrollable forces of nature, but noted that a permanent emergency operations center, more diversion dams and better cellphone service in certain areas might help save lives in future floods. Hundreds of people were rescued in the early morning of July 4 as the Guadalupe River surged to unprecedented heights in less than an hour, its intractable current carrying homes and vehicles for miles downstream. At least 132 people died in the flood, including campers and counselors at a girls' summer camp, and more than 160 people are still missing. Flash floods are common in the Texas Hill Country, where Kerrville is located, but National Weather Service forecasts predicted less rain than ultimately descended on July 4 — and by the time officials learned that lives were in jeopardy, many homes along the river were already submerged or washed away. 'It happened so rapidly that nobody, nobody could have anticipated it,' Rice said. Kerr County and Kerrville officials held separate meetings Monday about the ongoing flood response. Officials mostly steered clear of addressing speculation over how leaders communicated about the events on July 4, but one noted that he had received death threats. Rice told NBC News the water level was normal in his morning run along the river at about 3:30 a.m., during which he planned to survey the Fourth of July festivities. At 5:20 a.m., he started getting phone calls and text messages about the water surging. By that point, evacuations were already underway at campgrounds and RV parks. Holt, who is also a volunteer firefighter, received an alert from the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department at 4:59 a.m. that help was needed along the river. He had been up with his cat, who was agitated by the storm, for the past hour and a half. 'My cat would not leave me alone, actually scratched my eyeball when I was sleeping,' he said. In anticipation of heavy rain, some first responders from the Texas Division of Emergency Management were already stationed in the area, along with volunteer swift water rescue teams. Holt assisted with evacuations at around 5:30 a.m. at the Old River Road RV Park in Kerrville, he said, where some people were still fast asleep as the water encroached. 'We all came in to meet probably the hardest day we're going to see in our lives, and I'm a 30- year combat Marine,' he said. Virdell, a Republican state lawmaker who represents Kerr County, woke to messages about the flood at around 8 a.m. He got in his car as fast as he could, he said, and drove to the scene from Brady, more than an hour and a half north of Kerrville. 'I just threw, I think, one shirt, some gear or whatever in there, and my wife hopped in with me, and we drove 90 miles an hour,' he said. Would alerts have made a difference? In the wake of the disaster, questions have swirled about whether residents were adequately alerted about the dangers facing them, and if such alerts could have made a difference. Since its approval in 2009, Kerr County has used a phone notification system, known as CodeRed, to deliver emergency messages to residents who opt in. Officials have not said whether CodeRed alerts went out to warn about the weather and evacuations, or who was driving the decision of whether or not to send them. NBC affiliate KXAN in Austin obtained audio of a volunteer firefighter in the city of Ingram asking a county sheriff dispatcher at 4:22 a.m. if they can 'send a CodeRed out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home.' The dispatcher responded: 'We have to get that approved with our supervisor.' KXAN reported that one person near a flooded area said they received a voicemail at 1:14 a.m. from a number traced back to CodeRed, while another area resident received a CodeRed alert at 5:34 a.m. about the National Weather Service's 'flash flood warning,' suggesting inconsistencies among recipients countywide. Parts of the county also have spotty cell service or none at all. Others may not have had their phones with them, like the young girls who were staying at Camp Mystic in the unincorporated community of Hunt, where officials say at least 27 campers and staff members died. Holt, the Kerr County commissioner, said the county judge and sheriff typically must agree on issuing alerts such as a CodeRed. From his perspective, evacuating people on the ground, he said, 'felt like we were all in the fight already, and didn't need necessarily a call out for it.' 'It's not easy for anyone, especially if you live on the river and your own home is flooding and you can't get to the [emergency operations center] because you live on Highway 39, which is the case with a county judge,' Holt added. 'He is caught up in the disaster and trying to respond from home as much as possible.' Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said at a July 5 news conference that he lives along the Guadalupe River and his properties were devastated by the flood. As a city manager, Rice said, 'CodeRed was not on our mind' at around 5 a.m. when evacuations were underway. 'We were actively communicating with emergency responders in the community,' he added. 'It's very tough to say, would that [alert] have been effective?' Hours after the flood, Rice helped establish an emergency operations center at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, where state, county and city officials — including the county judge and sheriff — could coordinate their response. Virdell, the state representative, praised the effort to synchronize local and state operations, noting that two county commissioners worked out of the emergency center while the remaining two assisted with active rescues. 'People know me as sometimes being hard on government, government efficiency. What happened here was one of the most efficient things that I've ever seen between all the agencies working together,' he said. 'They're just playing a blame game' Questions over the timeline of events continued Monday as elected officials in Kerr County and Kerrville held public meetings. 'This flood was impossible to accurately and precisely predict,' Mayor Joe Herring said at the end of the Kerrville City Council meeting. He previously said he was awakened to the flooding by a call from Rice at about 5:30 a.m. and received no emergency alerts that morning. At the Kerr County Commissioners' Court meeting, residents praised the response from emergency crews amid exhaustive search and rescue operations. Kelly, in his first public appearance since the news conferences immediately after the flood, said he would not be answering questions. 'This is not a press conference today,' Kelly said. 'This is a business meeting, and we've got business that we have to do in the midst of this disaster response.' Commissioner Rich Paces said Monday he has received death threats in response to prior actions the county has taken over funding. He clarified that Kerr County received $10 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act, a trillion-dollar Covid relief package signed by President Joe Biden in 2021, but that the money was for a radio system to help with emergency response — not a flood warning system. 'It's sad to see the evil that's out there as well. In the midst of all this beauty,' Paces said, referring to the donations and support. 'You know, I've been getting death threats. Can you imagine, and people cursing us for decisions that we've never had a chance to make? And they're just playing a blame game,' he said. Lessons learned More than a week after the flood, state and local officials said they're focused on recovery operations — including locating the bodies of missing people — rather than identifying any points of weakness in their emergency response. 'Right now I don't want to spend my time having to go back and look at timelines, because our focus is on the operation,' Rice said. Holt said the county likely needs more diversion dams to strip off water in the flood zone, an action that would require signoff from private landowners. And while officials were able to quickly organize an emergency operations center, establishing a permanent one would be a wise long-term solution, he added. He described the need for officials to rehearse for emergency scenarios like flash floods at a single location that's built for that purpose, 'instead of relying on [the Texas Division of Emergency Management] to bring us all together.' Virdell said it's also important to find out whether sirens were useful during the disaster, since people sleeping indoors may not have heard them. One resource that may have helped, he added, is better cellphone service along the river in Hunt. 'I'm going to be requesting that some of the cellphone companies work on putting towers in that area,' he said. 'I think that's going to make a big difference because we didn't have communication with a bunch of the camps.' A spokesperson for the Eastland family, which owns and operates Camp Mystic, said the camp's director, Richard 'Dick' Eastland, who died that day, received a flood warning from the National Weather Service at 1:14 a.m. on his cellphone. He alerted his family via walkie-talkies, the spokesperson said, but it's unclear if the camp had means of communicating with authorities other than cellphones. Eastland was last seen evacuating girls from the Bubble Inn cabin, where the youngest campers were staying. Virdell said he has been looking into whether satellite communication could help generate alerts in coordination with the National Weather Service. However, he noted, even those tools might not have been enough to avert disaster on July 4: 'The general consensus is, everything was done that could be done at that moment.'
The Independent
6 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Number of nicotine poisonings in kids skyrockets with pouches becoming more common
The number of nicotine poisonings in kids has skyrocketed with pouches becoming more common. Zyns, a nicotine pouch placed between a person's gum and lip, have quickly risen to popularity as a way to get a nicotine hit without smoking. But nicotine pouches such as these can be a danger to kids if the container is left unsupervised. A study published Monday in the American Academy of Pediatrics found there were more than 134,000 nicotine ingestions among children younger than the age of six reported to poison centers from 2010 to 2023. Most of the poisoned children were younger than two years old, and almost all of the poisonings happened at home. While the rate of nicotine poisonings decreased from 2015 to 2023, it was mostly thanks to a decrease in poisonings from liquid nicotine used in vapes. The rate of nicotine pouch poisonings has increased by about 763 percent from 2020 to 2023. Nicotine pouches were also more likely 'to be associated with a serious medical outcome or medical admission than other product formulations combined,' researchers wrote in the study. Most of the poisonings had no effect or a minor effect on the children, but there were 39 ingestions with major effects and two deaths. The two deaths were in children under the age of two who ingested liquid nicotine, NBC News reported. Dr. Molly O'Shea, a Michigan pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told NBC News, 'It was just a matter of time before they fell into the hands of younger kids.' Those nearly 40 children who had major effects experienced trouble breathing and seizures, Dr. Natalie Rine, an author of the study and director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital, told NBC News. Rine said the 'two deaths is a lot, especially for something considered a preventable death.' O'Shea suggested parents keep their nicotine products 'locked away' instead of in a purse, pocket or on a counter.
NBC News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Pam Bondi dismissed charges in alleged Covid scam after the case had passed review for 'weaponization'
WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials had already reviewed a criminal case against a Utah doctor accused of selling fake Covid vaccination cards and allowed it to proceed before Attorney General Pam Bondi suddenly intervened over the weekend and ordered the case dismissed, a defense attorney said. Dr. Michael Kirk Moore was on trial last week in a case involving claims that more than $28,000 in Covid-19 vaccinations were destroyed as part of an alleged scheme involving the issuance of fake vaccine cards. Moore was indicted on the charges in 2023. On Saturday, Bondi announced on the platform X that she was ordering the charges against Moore dismissed, writing that the doctor "gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so." Bondi said the dismissal 'would not have been possible' without Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and thanked Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Moore's attorney, Kathy Nester, told NBC News that she submitted information about the case for review by Justice Department leadership earlier this year after Bondi announced the formation of a " Weaponization Working Group" to investigate claims of federal law enforcement being used against Trump allies and advocates. 'As an advocate for my client, I just wanted to try anything we could to help him,' Nester said. 'I thought the weaponization committee was interesting and new and might fall under the type of cases they would be interested in reviewing.' As first reported by Bloomberg Law, Nester submitted the case to the Justice Department group back in April and asked for it to be reviewed. A counsel for the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told her they declined to move to end the prosecution. "When I got the word they were not going to intervene, I just started getting ready for trial and did not pursue any more political avenues," Nester said. Bondi's decision to drop the case over the weekend came at a time when the attorney general is facing blowback from Trump supporters over the Justice Department not releasing more information about the Jeffrey Epstein case. It's unclear if there will be additional fallout from the Moore case. Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti signed paperwork to have the case dismissed. Other career prosecutors who had worked on the case did not sign onto the dismissal filing. On Friday, Bondi fired numerous Justice Department employees who had previously worked with former Special Counsel Jack Smith on the investigations into Trump over his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The Hill
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
DHS pushes back on report of hungry detainees: ‘FALSE'
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday pushed back on a new report from NBC News that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees are going hungry and being fed spoiled food. 'FAKE NEWS! Any claim that there is a lack of food or subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are FALSE,' DHS said in a post on the social platform X. 'All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Meals are certified by dieticians. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,' the department added. According to the NBC News report, ICE detainees in multiple states have reported facing food scarcity or receiving spoiled food, according to immigration advocates and detainees themselves. The outlet said detainees are experiencing weight loss and sickness as a result. One Salvadoran man being held at the Golden State Annex detention facility in California complained of flavorless ground beef that 'looks like little, small pebbles.' An attorney said clients described moldy and inedible food at some centers. And the wife of a man held in El Paso said, 'He tells me many are given two spoonfuls of rice and that many are still hungry,' according to NBC News. The Hill has reached out to NBC News for comment on DHS's response to its reporting. Democrats have railed against the Trump administration's immigration policies and ICE tactics, such as workplace raids, masked agents and alleged racial profiling. Trump's critics have raised particular alarm about 'Alligator Alcatraz,' a recently opened facility in Florida's Everglades. Following a tour of the facility this weekend, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said detainees 'are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.' Families of detainees have complained of sweltering heat, power outages, intense mosquitoes and lack of food at the detention center. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons responded to criticism from Democrats during an interview on Fox News Monday. 'One thing that a lot of the elected officials need to realize is, this isn't a resort in Florida. People aren't coming to that location for a long-term stay. They're there to just be housed so they can be removed from the country quickly,' he said. 'Add like I said, I'll always go back to, ICE prides itself on our detention standards, and I'm still gonna stick with that with our partnership in the state of Florida.'
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
ICE denies 'fake news' claims about detention centers
By ICE officials furiously denied the 'fake news' claims that migrants are starving in detention centers. The agency, headed by Homeland Security, hit back at a recent NBC News report that detainees have had to deal with overcrowding, food shortages and spoiled food at detention centers in at least seven states, according to immigration advocates. After the outlet published the story early Monday morning, Homeland Security took to its X account and shamed the network for its 'false' report. The post revealed a screenshot of the outlet's headline: 'Immigrants in overcapacity ICE detention say they're hungry, raise food quality concerns,' to which the agency responded: 'FAKE NEWS!' 'Any claim that there is a lack of food or subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are FALSE. 'All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. 'Meals are certified by dieticians. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.' The agency's comment sparked an influx of reactions from online users as some stood by the statement and others questioned it. 'They are treated far better than they deserve,' one wrote, referring to migrants. 'ICE treats criminal illegals better than Gavin Newsom treats homeless veterans,' said another. 'BREAKING: @NBCNews is ALWAYS fake,' someone wrote. Others were not as convinced the agency was telling the truth, as one user said: 'Post video of these supposed claims of yours.' 'You deny it, so it's true,' another commented. 'Show the receipts. And let observers in with cameras,' wrote another. Although the agency has vehemently denied these claims, a former ICE official told the outlet it's difficult for a detention facility to stay stocked up with food when new illegal migrants get thrown in. 'While the agency can move money around to cover the cost of detaining more immigrants, planning for unexpected daily spikes can be difficult for facilities and could lead to food being served late or in small quantities,' the outlet wrote, per the source. This is not the first time NBC has been the target of Homeland Security, as Secretary Kristi Noem made a fiery appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday as she fiercely defended the Trump administration's controversial new migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' The interview came after Democratic lawmakers described the facility as a humanitarian nightmare. In a blistering exchange with NBC anchor Kristen Welker, Noem accused Democrats of hypocrisy and political theater after a congressional tour of the facility ended with accusations of inhumane treatment and squalid conditions. 'I wish they would've said that during the Biden administration,' Noem said as Welker repeatedly pressed her about reports of overcrowded cells and unsanitary water sources. According to lawmakers on the tour, more than 30 migrants were packed into cage-style cells with just three combination sink-toilets. Temperatures hovered in the mid-80s inside medical intake tents. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and other insects were rampant. One detainee reportedly shouted, 'I'm an American citizen!' while others chanted 'Libertad!', Spanish for 'freedom.' Welker confronted Noem with such claims: 'Thirty people stuffed into a jail cell? Drinking water from the same place they use the bathroom?' But Noem appeared unshaken and fired back. 'Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons. The standards are extremely high. This is a state-run facility, but it still exceeds the requirements.' Noem stood by the facility and doubled down, revealing that five Republican governors have already spoken with her about using the Florida site as a model.
