A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The latest from the Texas Hill Country, where at least 109 people have been killed by those floods that started on 4 July.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
More than 160 people are known to be missing. Many of the dead are children, most from a summer camp, where questions are now being raised about what emergency plans were in place.
MARTÍNEZ: Houston Public Media’s Dominic Anthony Walsh spent the last few days in Kerr County. That’s along the Guadalupe River. Dominic, it’s been five days since the flooding. What’s it look like there?
DOMINIC ANTHONY WALSH, BYLINE: It’s grim. State officials have not yet said that they’re shifting from search and rescue to recovery, but they confirmed yesterday that the last time first responders found someone alive was Friday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said yesterday that 161 people are missing. The effort to clean up homes began as early as Saturday. I spoke with Kyle McCormick as he was clearing mud and ruined possessions out of his father-in-law’s home in Kerr County. I asked if this hits harder given the small population of the county.
KYLE MCCORMICK: I mean, yes, it’s hard, but we’re strong. I mean, we’ve rebuilt after floods before. Now, granted, it wasn’t like this, but we’ll rebuild again. I mean, it’s – no other way to put it.
WALSH: These are small towns, but they’re filling up with first responders and out-of-town volunteers. Helicopters are flying overhead, and swift-water rescue boats are zooming along the Guadalupe River. Now, officials have asked that those volunteers sign up with official groups like the Red Cross instead of self-deploying, and they’re asking people to keep drones out of restricted airspaces. A couple days ago, Kerrville city officials say a private drone struck a helicopter, forcing it to make an emergency landing. They say the help is appreciated but needs to be coordinated.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited one of the hard-hit areas, the community of Hunt, yesterday evening. What did he have to say?
WALSH: He says first responders will continue working until every missing person is accounted for. He also says investigations into the preparation and response will probably begin later this week, as state lawmakers prepare for a special session to address the disaster. That said, he refused to assign responsibility for what residents described as a lack of warning.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GREG ABBOTT: Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who’s to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say, don’t worry about it, man. We got this. We’re going to make sure that we go score again, that we’re going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions.
WALSH: Kerr County does not have an outdoor warning system that sounds during flash flooding, but it does have a text-based warning system. My colleagues in The Texas Newsroom have reported on issues with the timing and reach of those local alerts sent out to residents to warn of the flooding. All of those issues are likely to come up as investigations kick off.
MARTÍNEZ: So when it comes to the state government, more details are coming out about state inspections at Camp Mystic shortly before the flooding. What happened there?
WALSH: Right. This is the all-girls summer camp where more than two dozen people died, mostly children. The Associated Press obtained documents, which we have not reviewed, showing inspectors with the Department of State Health Services here in Texas signed off on the camp’s emergency plans just two days before the flooding. The department and Camp Mystic have not responded to our requests for comment.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That’s Dominic Anthony Walsh from Houston Public Media. Dominic, thank you.
WALSH: Thank you, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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