LAWMAKERS REVIEW STATE RESPONSE TO JULY 4TH FLOODS
(AUSTIN) — Members of the House and Senate spent all day Wednesday hearing from state emergency response officials about what went right and what went wrong in the state response to the disastrous floods that struck the Texas Hill Country in the wee hours of July 4th, claiming 137 lives, with two still missing. Leading off the hearing was Texas Department of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd, who presented a detailed timeline on how the crisis developed late Thursday and early Friday morning. He painted a picture of a rapidly worsening situation in which torrential rains far in excess of National Weather Service forecasts hit in the middle of the night. The speed at which these floods struck was astonishing: the NWS issued a flash flood emergency declaration at 4:03 am. Just 17 minutes later, the Guadalupe River had reached major flood stage near the community of Hunt in Kerr County. By 5:10, the river had exceeded its maximum historical flood by at least a foot; waters were still rising when the flood sensor stopped responding. In just 45 minutes, the river had risen 26 feet.
Texas Department of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd briefed lawmakers on the state’s response to catastrophic floods that struck central Texas over the July 4th weekend.
That the floods happened overnight while most were asleep exacerbated the problem, but the ingredients for the disaster had been present for days. Remnants of Tropical Storm Barry met a slow-moving batch of thunderstorms over central Texas, creating perfect conditions for historic rainfall. The Hill Country is one of the worst regions in the nation for flash floods: the terrain, steep ravines, and the large numbers of waterways create an area that is perfect for flash flood events. When the storms dropped up to 20 inches of rain in just a few hours, catastrophic flooding became inevitable.
National forecasts underestimated the eventual rainfall totals. On the day before, NWS forecasters predicted between one and two inches of rain, with locally heavy concentrations of five inches possible. Those forecasts would be revised up slightly over the next day, but the affected areas covered 35,000 miles of central and west Texas – an area of land as large as the entire state of Indiana.
Hundreds of lives were saved by responders from not only TDEM, but agencies including DPS, Texas Military Department, Texas Parks and Wildlife, first responders from across Texas and the country and, said Kidd, seventeen thousand volunteers from all over the state who showed up to lend a hand. In all, 30 counties would be declared disaster areas by Governor Greg Abbott, with 15 applying for federal assistance so far. Kidd said already six thousand affected residents have applied for assistance through FEMA.
Kidd outlined some areas where the state response needed to be better. As with previous disaster responses, communications proved to be the biggest problem, with many agencies finding difficulty even talking to other agencies using different communications protocols. Kidd also wants to see local emergency management coordinators receive more training in disaster response.
Wednesday’s hearing was focused on the state response, but next week the committees will travel to Kerrville to hear from local residents and officials on how they experienced the flooding and handled the response. State officials on Wednesday were complementary of the response and competence of local officials during the emergency. Following the two hearings, each chamber will craft a plan to help the region get back on its feet and find ways to prevent or mitigate future flood events. While it remains to be seen how much relief the state will send to the affected counties, acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock told lawmakers Tuesday that they had $3.1 billion in cash to work with through the end of August.
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