KERR COUNTY, Texas – As families and search crews sift through debris, mangled trees and toppled vehicles in Kerr County after the catastrophic Fourth of July flooding, authorities are facing growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued.
As of Sunday, 68 people were killed, including 28 children, in flooding along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County — an area long vulnerable to flooding.
The National Weather Service sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours on Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies, a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.
>> 28 children among 68 killed in Kerr County flood, sheriff says; 10 girls from Camp Mystic missing
Officials have insisted that no one saw the flood potential coming and have defended their actions.
In a news conference Friday, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said Kerr County does not have a warning system on the river.
When pressed by a reporter on why evacuations didn’t take place Thursday evening, Kelly said, “We didn’t know this flood was coming.”
TIMELINE: When the warnings began
5:47 p.m. Wednesday, July 2: Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) announced the agency activated state emergency response resources in anticipation of flooding in West and Central Texas
Approximately 1:45 p.m., Thursday, July 3: A Flood Watch was issued for Kerr County
Approximately 8:12 p.m. Thursday, July 3: The Flood Watch was extended
Approximately 2:37 a.m. Friday, July 4: The Flash Flood Watch was extended
Approximately 3:32 a.m. Friday, July 4: A River Flood Warning was issued for the Guadalupe River at Hunt
Approximately 3:28 a.m. Friday, July 4: A Downstream River Flood Warning was issued for the Guadalupe River in Kerrville
Approximately 3:36 a.m. Friday, July 4: A Flash Flood Warning was issued for south-central Kerr and northwest Bandera Counties
Approximately 3:56 a.m. Friday, July 4: A new River Forecast Warning was issued for the Guadalupe River at Hunt
Approximately 4:04 a.m. Friday, July 4: A Flash Flood Emergency was issued
Approximately 5:36 a.m. Friday, July 4: A Flash Flood Emergency for the Guadalupe River from Hunt through Kerrville and down to Center Point was issued
Officials say they didn’t expect this
Local officials have said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.
“There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing, a lot of second-guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose district includes Kerr County. “There’s a lot of people saying ‘why’ and ‘how,’ and I understand that.”
On Friday, Kelly said, “Rest assured: no one knew this kind of flood was coming.”
“We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what’s happened here, none whatsoever.”
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said he was jogging along the river early in the morning and didn’t notice any problems at 4 a.m. A little over an hour later, at 5:20 a.m., the water level had risen dramatically and “we almost weren’t able to get out of the park,” he said.
Rice also noted that the public can become desensitized to too many weather warnings.
President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Texas.
The president said he would likely visit on Friday.
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