Texas officials face scrutiny over response to catastrophic, deadly flooding

Before going to bed on the eve of the Fourth of July holiday Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friendrsquos house along the Guadalupe River Nothing in the forecast raised any alarmBut just hours later he was rushing to safety Flowers awoke in darkness to the sound of electrical sockets popping and water rising around his ankles His family quickly scrambled nine people into the atticPhones began buzzing with alerts Flowers recalled on Saturday though he couldnrsquot remember exactly when they started amid the chaosldquoWhat they need is some kind of external system like a tornado warning that tells people to get out nowrdquo said Flowers 44The fastmoving destructive floodwaters that began before sunrise on Friday in Texas Hill Country had by Saturday claimed the lives of at least 32 people according to officials reported AP An unknown number of individuals remained missing including 27 girls from Camp Mystic a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County where most of the victims were foundAs authorities launched one of the largest searchandrescue efforts in recent Texas history scrutiny mounted over whether residents and the numerous youth summer camps along the river had been given sufficient warning or told to evacuateThe National Weather Service had issued multiple flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday culminating in flash flood emergencies mdash a rare and severe alert indicating imminent danger reported APLocal officials however have insisted that the floods scale was unforeseen and have defended their responseldquoTherersquos going to be a lot of fingerpointing a lot of secondguessing and Monday morning quarterbackingrdquo said Republican US Representative Chip Roy whose district includes Kerr County ldquoTherersquos a lot of people saying ldquowhyrdquo and ldquohowrdquo and I understand thatrdquoWhen the warnings beganAn initial flood watch mdash typically a general advisory for residents to remain weatheraware mdash was issued by the local National Weather Service office at 118 pm on Thursday It forecast rainfall between 5 and 7 inches 127 to 178 centimetres reported APWeather messaging from the office grew more urgent in the early hours of Friday including mobile alerts warning people in atrisk areas to move to higher ground and evacuate floodprone zones said Jason Runyen a meteorologist at the National Weather ServiceAt 403 am an urgent warning was issued warning of catastrophic damage and severe threats to human lifeJonathan Porter chief meteorologist at AccuWeather mdash a private forecasting company that uses National Weather Service data mdash said the situation warranted earlier actionldquoPeople businesses and governments should take action based on Flash Flood Warnings that are issued regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecastrdquo Porter said in a statementLocal officials maintained that they had not anticipated such an intense deluge which amounted to monthsrsquo worth of rain falling in just hoursldquoWe know we get rains We know the river risesrdquo said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly the countyrsquos top elected official ldquoBut nobody saw this comingrdquoKelly noted that the county had once considered installing a flood warning system along the river similar to a tornado siren about six or seven years ago mdash before he took office mdash but the plan never materialised due to costsldquoWersquove looked into it before mdash the public reeled at the costrdquo Kelly saidHundreds rescuedTexas Governor Greg Abbott said on Saturday that the extensive emergency response had resulted in the rescue and recovery of more than 850 people including some who were found clinging to treesDozens of individuals along the river including girls at Camp Mystic were airlifted to safety by helicopterKelly said he was unsure what kind of safety and evacuation procedures the camps had in placeldquoWhat I do know is the flood hit the camp first and it came in the middle of the night I donrsquot know where the kids wererdquo he said adding ldquoI donrsquot know what kind of alarm systems they had That will come out in timerdquoUS Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Saturday that accurately predicting the rainfall totals had been difficult She added that the Trump administration would prioritise upgrading National Weather Service technology used for issuing warningsldquoWe know that everyone wants more warning time and thatrsquos why wersquore working to upgrade the technology thatrsquos been neglected for far too long to make sure families have as much advance notice as possiblerdquo Noem said during a press conference with state and federal officialsWeather service ramped up staffingThe National Weather Service office in New Braunfels mdash which provides forecasts for Austin San Antonio and surrounding areas mdash had increased staffing during the storm according to RunyenWhere two forecasters would typically be on duty during calm weather the office had up to five staff working through the nightldquoThere were extra people in here that night and thatrsquos typical in every weather service office mdash you staff up for an event bring people in on overtime and hold people overrdquo Runyen saidWith AP inputs