By Darlene McCormick Sanchez
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump landed in Central Texas on Friday for a firsthand look at damage from a devastating flood that claimed the lives of more than 120 people statewide, including more than 35 children.
Trump received a briefing from local officials in Kerr County, Texas, and met with the relatives of victims. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was expected to join him.
“It’s a horrible thing … nobody can even believe it … that much water, that fast,“ Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Washington. ”We’re going to be there with some of the great families and others, the governor and everybody.”
Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as Rep. Wesley Hunt, who hails from a Houston-area district not impacted by Hill Country flooding, were traveling with the president to the epicenter of the flooding.
The president signed a major disaster declaration for the hardest-hit area where he is visiting, according to a FEMA notice issued on Sunday.
About 45 minutes before daybreak on July 4, the Guadalupe River that runs through much of Kerr County rose 26 feet, washing away homes, RVs, and vehicles.
More than 160 people remain missing in the area as recovery efforts continue along the river, which officials said rose so quickly the morning of July 4 that little could be done to save those in its path.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4 to cellphones and weather radios — more than three hours before the first reports of flooding at low-water crossings in Kerr County at 4:35 a.m. The warning was upgraded to a flash flood emergency at 4:03 a.m.
The alert included Hunt, the small town that is home to Camp Mystic. At least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, the all-girl Christian camp located on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, died, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Wednesday.
Business owner Vinnie Mifsud, who operated a kayak business along the Guadalupe River, said he received a CodeRED alert at 6:30 a.m. on July 4 and noticed it had been issued an hour earlier.
Mifsud said he had originally planned to spend the night along the river that night, but went back home with his teenage son after they quarreled, a decision that likely saved their lives.
If there had been a siren or some advanced warning when the water rose sharply in Hunt, perhaps the hardest hit area of the county, that was hit first, then maybe it could have made a difference, Mifsud said.
During a press conference earlier in the week, Leitha was asked about an alleged delay that occurred after an Ingram Volunteer Fire Department commander asked a Kerr County Sheriff dispatcher to issue a CodeRed alert.
Leitha said the county’s response would be examined, but for now, the focus would remain on recovering the missing.
“Those questions are going to be answered,” he said. “I believe those questions need to be answered … to the families of missed loved ones, to the public, to the people that put me in this office.”
Abbott said in a Wednesday statement that flood warning systems will be considered as part of a special legislative session agenda set to begin July 21.
State lawmakers will consider legislation that improves early warning systems and other preparedness infrastructure in flood-prone areas throughout Texas.
