Kerr County Commissioner Speaks "After Action Report"

One Kerr County Commissioner called for an "after action report" seven weeks after the July 4th flash flood disaster that killed 138 people.

"The question is what's coming next and how do we prepare for it.  After action report is a big part of that and it's being dictated by the state by also being introduced by me previously and also Commissioner Paces has offered to help out that.  It's going to be something we need to do however dramatic it is and uncovering certain things.  We need to look at ourselves hard in the face."- Kerr County Commissioner Jeff Holt

This came after public comment that praised two commissioners, Jeff Holt and Robert Paces, for their response the early morning of July 4th, doing so in the hours before local Emergency Management officials got organized and the State of Texas took over.  Commissioner Paces noted during the meeting:

"There are some other lessons learned in terms of who is watching, who is looking at the data and how that information gets relayed."

A basic in disaster response is a timely evaluation of the effort.  Elected officials aren't noted for their competence or thoroughness in this area.  The White House Lessons Learned report on Hurricane Katrina was a disaster in itself.  The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is tomorrow, August 29.

"Unprecedented disasters" that occur every few decades no longer cuts the mustard.  The whole point of institutions is memory.  Kerr County Emergency Management officials warned about flooding in August 2024.

Let's hope the Kerr County Commissioner's Court shows more knowledge and courage in evaluating how their local disaster plans were executed.  Their constituents deserve a thorough and comprehensive assessment with clear recommendations to address problems.    

Update 9-25-25:  FEMA's interim chief was also missing in action for the Kerr County flash floods.  Staff could not reach him by phone.  That means there were communication failures at both the local and federal level that directly impacted the response, warning, rescue and recovery/cleanup.

Update 10-15-25:  The Texas Legislature will establish two more committees to look at the deadly flash flood event of July 4. 

Update 12-6-25:  The 911 calls to Kerrville Emergency Dispatch were made public.  The calls reveal increasing desperation and peril.  The calls from the 911 center to Emergency Management Officials are yet to be released.  

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas had been on medical leave after heart surgery but returned to work on November 10th.  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly is looking to hire help for Thomas.  The top three Kerr County officials continue to cover for each other and they are yet to produce/share an after action report.

Update 12-7-25:  Concho Valley Homepage ran the 911 call story.

Update 5-21-26:  The National Weather Service released a report on the July 4th floods specific to Kerr County.  It states:

....attempted to call both the Kerr County emergency management coordinator and the sheriff’s office starting at approximately 3:38 a.m. but were unable to reach the sheriff’s office until 4:32 a.m. and the emergency management coordinator until 6:19 a.m.

Kerr County officials released their communications that day which show a non-responsiveness to the scope and scale of the disaster.

Update 7-16-26:

The State of Texas, headed by Governor Greg Abbott, continues to not hold Kerr County officials responsible for their abject public safety failures in the July 4th flood.  

Mystic Parents: Stories Far Worse than "Team Loss"

Parents of the children from Camp Mystic who died in the flash flooding spoke to Texas legislators.  Words like "preventable failures", "safety being paramount", "protocols ... not followed", "their deaths will mean change",  and many more.  

NYT reported:

“There needs to be better coordination with local first responders, because in an emergency, confusion kills, and we saw that on July 4.”

No one in the Kerr County Emergency Management hierarchy answered the phone calls from 911 emergency dispatch.  It's unclear if any deputies were sent to the homes of the parties involved.  There is far more left unsaid than revealed by elected officials and public servants.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott compared people asking questions about the disaster response to disgruntled football fans after a team loss.

Politics is an insufficient way to explain our world, given its ever shifting sands, serial mistruths and mind numbing double standards.  Governor Abbott's analogy should be taken in that context.  The State of Texas protected Kerr County officials for nearly a month after the event. 

 

The emergency management world knows Kerr County leaders failed in their duty to anticipate, act on timely information coming into 911 and issue the most urgent of warnings to people already in harm's way.  They failed to coordinate state assets pre-positioned in that area during the early hours of the event.

The parents of twenty seven children have to deal with the grievous loss of their child or children.  Those who survived face a lifetime of fear and PTSD from their trauma.

If emergency management people can't wake up and respond to a disaster, one which they've drilled on for years and warned the public about in expos, then the public needs to wake up.  

Update 8-22-25:  Texas Tribune reported:

“Make no mistake, House Bill 1 is fundamentally a bill about failure,” said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, when he introduced it. “The camp failed these girls. The county failed them. The river authority failed them, and in a larger sense, their government.

Missing are the consequences for the people who failed to do their job, the one they were paid for.  The Texas Senate is in go-forward, clean-up mode.  The House has two measures in the works, one on disaster preparation for camps and the other for post disaster scams.  Isn't it a scam to take money to perform a job and then not do it?

Update 8-24-25:  Parents of the campers killed by flood waters met with Governor Abbott in the days before their testimony to the Texas legislature.

"Cile's life ended, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures..."

Failures for which their has been no public accountability to date, despite promises by Governor Coach Abbott to take action.

Update 9-6-25:  An Austin couple expressed their views on the flood that took their daughter's life at Camp Mystic:

“When something is 100 percent preventable, it’s just awful and it’s very sad,” he (father) added. “And, so, I have a very hard time calling this a tragedy. Because, in my mind, it was 100 percent preventable.”

Update 10-15-25:  The Texas Legislature will establish two more committees to look at the deadly flash flood event of July 4. 

Update 12-6-25:  The 911 calls to Kerrville Emergency Dispatch were made public.  The calls reveal increasing desperation and peril.  The calls from the 911 center to Emergency Management Officials are yet to be released.  

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas had been on medical leave after heart surgery but returned to work on November 10th.  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly is looking to hire help for Thomas.  The top three Kerr County officials continue to cover for each other and they are yet to produce/share an after action report.

Update 12-7-25:  Concho Valley Homepage ran the 911 call story.

Update 4-15-26:  A director of Camp Mystic testified that he:

"had not seen the official weather warnings before the storm, did not convene a staff meeting about the potential flooding and acknowledged that the camp did not have a detailed, written flood evacuation plan."

The cascade of ignorance and lack of preparation was widespread in Kerr County.

Update 4-22-26:  KXAN reported: 

According to the House’s resolution, the committee would be tasked with investigating contributing factors, allocation of resources, effectiveness of preparedness and effectiveness of response and coordination between local, state and federal entities. The Senate’s resolution called for a broader “complete and thorough examination of the facts and circumstances surrounding the flooding events.”

So how did this broad mandate get reduced to summer camps?   It appears there may never be an assessment of Kerr County emergency official's response (non-response) to the disaster.'

Update 5-21-26:  The National Weather Service released a report on the July 4th floods specific to Kerr County.  It states:

....attempted to call both the Kerr County emergency management coordinator and the sheriff’s office starting at approximately 3:38 a.m. but were unable to reach the sheriff’s office until 4:32 a.m. and the emergency management coordinator until 6:19 a.m.

Kerr County officials released their communications that day which show a non-responsiveness to the scope and scale of the disaster.

Update 7-16-26:

The State of Texas, headed by Governor Greg Abbott, continues to not hold Kerr County officials responsible for their abject public safety failures in the July 4th flood.  

Nearly Year Ago Official Warned of Flash Flooding

In August 2024 Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William "Dub" Thomas encouraged the public to attend a Disaster Expo.  The theme was "Be Prepared!"  Thomas reference major flooding as disaster risk.

KXAN reported:

Kerr County and the City of Kerrville had a plan to prepare for and respond to disasters like the deadly Independence Day floods that killed at least 108 people — including 37 children — one month ago. But a KXAN review of public records found that some key parts of the plan weren’t followed.

Response, Public Warning and Setting up the Incident Command are three areas where leaders failed to act in a timely manner during early morning July 4th.

The State of Texas took over disaster response and recovery.  That move delayed local accountability for twenty seven days.  During the Kerrville hearings the public learned top Kerr County leaders were all asleep as the flash flood worsened.  One was "sick-asleep", another "out of town-asleep" and the last "just asleep."  There has been no local accountability at Kerr County Commissioners Court.  That group has been hair trigger defensive in the meetings I've watched.

What's done is done, but I never expected the State of Texas to cover up blatant leadership failures that resulted in widespread loss of life, including 27 children at Camp Mystic.  Governor Abbott and his administration can talk accountability.  So far it looks like lip service.

Update 8-22-25:  Texas Tribune reported:

“Make no mistake, House Bill 1 is fundamentally a bill about failure,” said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, when he introduced it. “The camp failed these girls. The county failed them. The river authority failed them, and in a larger sense, their government.

Missing are the consequences for the people who failed to do their job, the one they were paid for.  The Texas Senate is in go-forward, clean-up mode.  The House has two measures in the works, one on disaster preparation for camps and the other for post disaster scams.  Isn't it a scam to take money to perform a job and then not do it?

Update 8-24-25:  Parents of the campers killed by flood waters met with Governor Abbott in the days before their testimony to the Texas legislature.

"Cile's life ended, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures..."

Failures for which their has been no public accountability to date, despite promises by Governor Coach Abbott to take action.

Update 10-15-25:  The Texas Legislature will establish two more committees to look at the deadly flash flood event of July 4. 

Update 12-6-25:  The 911 calls to Kerrville Emergency Dispatch were made public.  The calls reveal increasing desperation and peril.  The calls from the 911 center to Emergency Management Officials are yet to be released.  

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas had been on medical leave after heart surgery but returned to work on November 10th.  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly is looking to hire help for Thomas.  The top three Kerr County officials continue to cover for each other and they are yet to produce/share an after action report.

Update 12-7-25:  Concho Valley Homepage ran the 911 call story.

Update 4-15-26:  A director of Camp Mystic testified that he:

"had not seen the official weather warnings before the storm, did not convene a staff meeting about the potential flooding and acknowledged that the camp did not have a detailed, written flood evacuation plan."

The cascade of ignorance and lack of preparation was widespread in Kerr County.

Update 4-20-26:  Texas Tribune reported Camp Mystic's security guard testified as to events that evening/early morning:

The security guard at Camp Mystic the night of last year’s deadly flood acknowledged Wednesday that if a general evacuation order came early in the storm, lives could’ve been saved.

Update 4-22-26:  KXAN reported: 

According to the House’s resolution, the committee would be tasked with investigating contributing factors, allocation of resources, effectiveness of preparedness and effectiveness of response and coordination between local, state and federal entities. The Senate’s resolution called for a broader “complete and thorough examination of the facts and circumstances surrounding the flooding events.”

So how did this broad mandate get reduced to summer camps?   It appears there may never be an assessment of Kerr County emergency official's response (non-response) to the disaster. 

Update 5-21-26:  The National Weather Service released a report on the July 4th floods specific to Kerr County.  It states:

....attempted to call both the Kerr County emergency management coordinator and the sheriff’s office starting at approximately 3:38 a.m. but were unable to reach the sheriff’s office until 4:32 a.m. and the emergency management coordinator until 6:19 a.m.

Kerr County officials released their communications that day which show a non-responsiveness to the scope and scale of the disaster.

Update 7-16-26:

The State of Texas, headed by Governor Greg Abbott, continues to not hold Kerr County officials responsible for their abject public safety failures in the July 4th flood.  

"Ongoing ASOS Issues" at Mathis Field

The last flight from DFW to San Angelo circled above the city for 20 minutes before diverting to Midland.  The sky was clear and it was after midnight when roughly fifty passengers learned from the pilot that he could not land without knowing the wind information.  It is normally on the automated recording pilots access during approach.  Without that data the pilot is not allowed to land the plane.

I thought that odd.  Couldn't the airline send someone out to the tarmac with a wind meter?  It turns out everything is automated.

The e-mail from NOAA/National Weather Service indicates the tower at Mathis Field plays a backup role to ASOS.  For Flight 4956 on 8-4-25 no one was in the tower to do just that.

"Ongoing issues" implies that our flight was not a one time event.  For many of the fifty our event was miserable, even traumatic.  No AA representative greeted us.  Straight answers were few and far between on the AA 800 number.  Hotel vouchers showed "no local rooms available."  The few that got hotel rooms paid big, $250 for ten hours at the Fairfield Inn.  Most of us spent the night in the airport, although an enterprising few Ubered their way home.

I hope other late flights into San Angelo don't get within a few thousand feet of landing before being jerked away to another airport in our region.  The Midland Spaceport is not a comfortable place to rest as there is no space for that very purpose.

Update 8-11-25:  I submitted a public information request for "information on other flights impacted by ongoing ASOS (automated surface observing systems) issues after the tower 'is not available' starting 1-1-25."  The city responded that "there are no responsive documents to your request" despite my requesting the city ask any associated vendors to provide that information in accordance with standard City of San Angelo contract language.

Update 8-12-25:  I asked NOAA/NWS for information on ASOS issues at SJT after the tower is closed.  They put me on their standard review, no expediting with full fees.  It could be months before I hear anything.

Update 9-2-25:  American Airlines refused to back up their service promises with a refund or any form of service recovery.  I did receive an AI type letter with lots of vacuous statements that had no relation to the actual service I experienced. 

Update 11-24-25:  Apparently I was not alone 

According to data collected by the United States Department of Transportation in the August Air Travel Consumer Report, American Airlines was the worst of all domestic airlines.

American eventually awarded me 7,500 bonus miles for the worst airtravel experience of my life.  

Update 12-7-25:  My request for information with NOAA/NWS has been assigned for processing.

Update 12-15-25:  AA sent a 2025 recap which I have corrected in part:

Update 12-19-25:  American Airlines announced it would stop awarding frequent flyer miles to basic economy tickets, like the one I purchased for the trip that was diverted to Midland.  I recall the price being close to $600.  A young lady on the flight said she paid $900 for a basic economy tickets.

Update 3-24-26:  The NOAA/NWS FOIA request remains in the "assigned for processing" status.  No progress has been made since it was submitted on 8-11-25.  

Finally!

It took 27 days for Kerr County residents to learn what their Emergency Management Coordinator did the morning of deadly Guadalupe River flash flooding.  William "Dub" Thomas had been sick and was asleep in bed.

The 30 foot rise occurred while Thomas was asleep.

Thomas also informed state officials that he helped set up the IPAWS system for Kerr County, the warning system that went unused by County officials as they had no Emergency Operations Center set up when the flooding occurred.  He also revealed he is the Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Ingram.  Ingram city leaders have shared concerns about Thomas' absence both during the event and afterwards.

Finally, the public knows some things about that evening.  Unanswered questions include:  What attempts were made to contact Thomas prior to the successful 5:30 am phone call?  Who was backing up Thomas from an emergency management perspective while he was ill?  

Local leaders were absent.  That includes the County Judge, Sheriff and Emergency Management Coordinator.  That absence cost lives.

Update:  Rep. Drew Darby stated "We have a lot of folks who have titles, but when the time came to act, they did not do so in a timely fashion."  He added that the state pre-positioned assets for potential flooding so the idea that this came out of the blue and was totally unexpected did not wash with him.

Fortune titled their article:

Kerr County officials reveal they were asleep, out of town during night of catastrophic flood

Update 8-3-25:   A timeline shows the hours of crisis while Kerr County officials were unavailable.

Update 8-4-25:  Another timeline shows how leaders failed their people.

Update 8-10-25:  WaPo did a piece on local leadership failures early morning July 4th.

Update 8-11-25:  KSAT received 911 calls relative to Kerr County flooding that rolled over to nearby counties.  Kerr County is yet to release that information to the public.

Update 8-21-25:  Parents of the children from Camp Mystic who died in the flash flooding spoke to Texas legislators.  Words like "preventable failures", "safety being paramount", "protocols ... not followed", "their deaths will mean change",  and many more.  NYT reported:

“There needs to be better coordination with local first responders, because in an emergency, confusion kills, and we saw that on July 4.”

No one in the Kerr County Emergency Management hierarchy answered the phone calls from 911 emergency dispatch.

Update 8-22-25:  Texas Tribune reported:

“Make no mistake, House Bill 1 is fundamentally a bill about failure,” said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, when he introduced it. “The camp failed these girls. The county failed them. The river authority failed them, and in a larger sense, their government.

Missing are the consequences for the people who failed to do their job, the one they were paid for.  The Texas Senate is in go-forward, clean-up mode.  The House has two measures in the works, one on disaster preparation for camps and the other for post disaster scams.  Isn't it a scam to take money to perform a job and then not do it?

Update 8-24-25:  Parents of the campers killed by flood waters met with Governor Abbott in the days before their testimony to the Texas legislature.

"Cile's life ended, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures..."

Failures for which their has been no public accountability to date, despite promises by Governor Coach Abbott to take action.

Update 9-25-25:  FEMA's interim chief was also missing in action for the Kerr County flash floods.  Staff could not reach him by phone.  That means there were communication failures at both the local and federal level that directly impacted the response, warning, rescue and recovery/cleanup.

Update 10-15-25:  The Texas Legislature will establish two more committees to look at the deadly flash flood event of July 4. 

Update 12-6-25:  The 911 calls to Kerrville Emergency Dispatch were made public.  The calls reveal increasing desperation and peril.  The calls from the 911 center to Emergency Management Officials are yet to be released.  

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas had been on medical leave after heart surgery but returned to work on November 10th.  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly is looking to hire help for Thomas.  The top three Kerr County officials continue to cover for each other and they are yet to produce/share an after action report.

Update 12-7-25:  Concho Valley Homepage ran the 911 call story.

Update 3-31-26:  Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William Dub Thomas officially retired today

Update 4-15-26:  A director of Camp Mystic testified that he:

"had not seen the official weather warnings before the storm, did not convene a staff meeting about the potential flooding and acknowledged that the camp did not have a detailed, written flood evacuation plan."

The cascade of ignorance and lack of preparation was widespread in Kerr County.

Update 4-20-26:  Texas Tribune reported Camp Mystic's security guard testified as to events that evening/early morning:

The security guard at Camp Mystic the night of last year’s deadly flood acknowledged Wednesday that if a general evacuation order came early in the storm, lives could’ve been saved.

Update 4-22-26:  KXAN reported: 

According to the House’s resolution, the committee would be tasked with investigating contributing factors, allocation of resources, effectiveness of preparedness and effectiveness of response and coordination between local, state and federal entities. The Senate’s resolution called for a broader “complete and thorough examination of the facts and circumstances surrounding the flooding events.”

So how did this broad mandate get reduced to summer camps?   It appears there may never be an assessment of Kerr County emergency official's response (non-response) to the disaster. 

Update 5-21-26:  The National Weather Service released a report on the July 4th floods specific to Kerr County.  It states:

....attempted to call both the Kerr County emergency management coordinator and the sheriff’s office starting at approximately 3:38 a.m. but were unable to reach the sheriff’s office until 4:32 a.m. and the emergency management coordinator until 6:19 a.m.

Kerr County officials released their communications that day which show a non-responsiveness to the scope and scale of the disaster.

Update 7-16-26:

The State of Texas, headed by Governor Greg Abbott, continues to not hold Kerr County officials responsible for their abject public safety failures in the July 4th flood.  

There Really is a Warning System, Leaders Have to Use It

Big Country Homepage interviewed Rep. Drew Darby regarding the upcoming Texas Legislative Session focusing on the horrific flash flood disasters that took so many lives. He said:

“House Bill 13 is a bill that basically grew out of a series of natural disasters, including the wildfires and the Panhandle that burned over a million acres. There is no real early warning system, and a way to notify affected people about an impending disaster.”

 Actually, there is.  

Local officials have to use it.  They also have to follow their disaster plans, set up the Emergency Operations Centers and monitor conditions, issue appropriate warnings as indicated and shift resources.

Kerr County officials owe their public an explanation as to why first responder requests to warn affected citizens were ignored.  It's called accountable local government and it is not happening for the City of Ingram.  

Their City Council met last night:

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William B. “Dub” Thomas was supposed to give (Council) an update after the July 4 floods, but he didn’t show because of “scheduling conflicts." 

"We have no information,” Mayor Claud Jordan said. “Nobody has called us. Nobody has contacted us.””  

Disaster response "no show" is a familiar pattern in Kerr County.  Silence and stonewalling is the exact wrong strategy when professional public officials fail miserably.  The story of what three men did that night, County Judge, Emergency Management Coordinator and County Sheriff, in response to phone calls from emergency dispatchers is out there locally, in bits and pieces.  It will eventually come out.

City of Ingram City officials have had little to no communication with Kerr County leaders for the last seventeen days, including the day of the disaster.  

The clamp is on tight if the City of Ingram's City Council can't get their employee to show up for a meeting.  Why would I say employee?  Because "Dub" Thomas indicated such in his talk with Kerrville Rotary Club

Have been the Emergency Management Coordinator for Kerr County and the City Of Ingram since November 2015

There's a very strange narrative going for people with a background in disaster planning and response and it does not bode well for citizens.

Update 7-23-25:  KHOU reported:

Code Red is Kerr County’s emergency notification system that can push alerts to residents’ phones. Trolinger, who helped install the system as the county’s former IT director, says he didn’t receive a Code Red alert until after 10 a.m. July 4.

A first responder made the request at 4:22 am.  

The time for accountability, they say, will start at the state capital with the upcoming special session.

Sorry, that's a cop out.  These people work for local government and are accountable to their constituents.  That's not Greg Abbott, the Texas legislature or President Trump -- the groups covering for the local failure to warn citizens in a timely manner.  The state has taken over the recovery and clean up process so local leaders have time to do what experts do after a disaster - evaluate what happened and act on the results of that evaluation.  The public should be front and center in that accountability.  

Local leaders and the public have been left high and dry by Kerr County Commissioners Court and Ingram City Council.  

Update 7-24-25:  It turns out the people charged with managing disasters in Kerr County were asleep the early morning of July 4th.  Ingram City officials continue to voice their lack of response from Kerr County officials.

Update 7-29-25:  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly signed a disaster declaration for Governor Greg Abbott at 1:57 pm on July 4th.  The news release associated with the disaster declaration encouraged people near rivers and creeks to immediately move to higher ground.   That less than a day late but far more than a dollar short.

Update 7-30-25:  The first panel to testify tomorrow morning has Kerr County officials:

Judge Rob Kelly, Kerr County 

Sheriff Larry L. Leitha, Kerr County 

William B. “Dub” Thomas, Kerr County

Will the public finally hear what they did/did not do the night/morning of the flash flood disaster, the one they were charged with addressing as part of their job duties?  It's been 26 days and they have given no account to local citizens or governmental bodies.  That's piss poor.  

I hope the state hearing is not a "white wash" from Texas Republicans.  Leaders failed to fulfill their basic duties and people died as a direct result.

Those interested in the public hearing can find information on the event here, which includes a link for viewing the video of the meeting.

Update 7-31-25:  Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas spoke for the first time since the event about his actions that day.  Thomas emphasized he set up IPAWS for Kerr County.  He let the public know that he fell ill on July 2nd and took the day off on July 3rd.  The hearing provided no information on emergency dispatch's efforts to reach Thomas the morning of the disaster.  Thomas said his wife awoke him at 5:30 am, well past the time to issue life saving alerts.  

Questions not covered include:  What communication efforts failed prior to the successful one?  What emergency management backup does the county have when a key person is ill?  

Update 8-22-25:  Texas Tribune reported:

“Make no mistake, House Bill 1 is fundamentally a bill about failure,” said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, when he introduced it. “The camp failed these girls. The county failed them. The river authority failed them, and in a larger sense, their government.

Missing are the consequences for the people who failed to do their job, the one they were paid for.  The Texas Senate is in go-forward, clean-up mode.  The House has two measures in the works, one on disaster preparation for camps and the other for post disaster scams.  Isn't it a scam to take money to perform a job and then not do it?

Update 8-24-25:  Parents of the campers killed by flood waters met with Governor Abbott in the days before their testimony to the Texas legislature.

"Cile's life ended, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures..."

Failures for which their has been no public accountability to date, despite promises by Governor Coach Abbott to take action.

Update 10-15-25:  The Texas Legislature will establish two more committees to look at the deadly flash flood event of July 4. 

Update 12-6-25:  The 911 calls to Kerrville Emergency Dispatch were made public.  The calls reveal increasing desperation and peril.  The calls from the 911 center to Emergency Management Officials are yet to be released.  

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas had been on medical leave after heart surgery but returned to work on November 10th.  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly is looking to hire help for Thomas.  The top three Kerr County officials continue to cover for each other and they are yet to produce/share an after action report.

Update 12-7-25:  Concho Valley Homepage ran the 911 call story.

Update 4-15-26:  A director of Camp Mystic testified that he:

"had not seen the official weather warnings before the storm, did not convene a staff meeting about the potential flooding and acknowledged that the camp did not have a detailed, written flood evacuation plan."

The cascade of ignorance and lack of preparation was widespread in Kerr County.

Update 4-20-26:  Texas Tribune reported Camp Mystic's security guard testified as to events that evening/early morning:

The security guard at Camp Mystic the night of last year’s deadly flood acknowledged Wednesday that if a general evacuation order came early in the storm, lives could’ve been saved.

Update 4-22-26:  KXAN reported: 

According to the House’s resolution, the committee would be tasked with investigating contributing factors, allocation of resources, effectiveness of preparedness and effectiveness of response and coordination between local, state and federal entities. The Senate’s resolution called for a broader “complete and thorough examination of the facts and circumstances surrounding the flooding events.”

So how did this broad mandate get reduced to summer camps?   It appears there may never be an assessment of Kerr County emergency official's response (non-response) to the disaster. 

Update 5-21-26:  The National Weather Service released a report on the July 4th floods specific to Kerr County.  It states:

....attempted to call both the Kerr County emergency management coordinator and the sheriff’s office starting at approximately 3:38 a.m. but were unable to reach the sheriff’s office until 4:32 a.m. and the emergency management coordinator until 6:19 a.m.

Kerr County officials released their communications that day which show a non-responsiveness to the scope and scale of the disaster.

Update 7-16-26:

The State of Texas, headed by Governor Greg Abbott, continues to not hold Kerr County officials responsible for their abject public safety failures in the July 4th flood.  

Kerr County Commissioners Court Silent on Initial Flood Response

The Kerr County Commissioners Court held their first meeting since the deadly July 4th flash flood.  One County Commissioner shared how his local volunteer fire department saved everyone in their community, noting their was no loss of life as a result of their response.   

The Court did not have Emergency Management Coordinator William "Dub" Thomas clarify the County's early response to escalating warnings issued by the National Weather Service regarding flash flooding. 

The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning at 1:14 a.m. Friday to mobile phones and weather radios. The warning was updated at 4:03 a.m. to a flash-flood emergency.

Dub's name was mentioned as staffing the Emergency Operations Center along with the County Judge.  Thomas began his role as Emergency Management Coordinator in 2015.  Two years into his term government bodies warned of serious problems from flash flooding.

 

In September 2017, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority sounded the alarm in an online video produced with Kerr County and the city of Kerrville warning about the dangers of flash floods and its historical precedent posted to YouTube.

At least 134 people are dead and 101 are missing.  The lack of information the County's early actions is disturbing for citizens expecting accountable government.  A paid professional was in that role the evening of July 3rd and early morning July 4th. 

County Commissioners went into executive session to discuss matters.  I expect they got legal advice as to the county's failure to follow their emergency plan by not issuing timely warnings to members of the public, residents and visitors, making them aware of the impending flash flood.

The public has seen this before with the White House Hurricane Katrina response, the February 2021 Winter Storm that killed hundreds in Texas and the Uvalde school shooting.

The Katrina Lessons Learned report was a disaster in itself, just a collection of hero stories and recommendations to do better next time.  It avoided a critical examination of the response which resulted in needless deaths.

It remains to be seen what information is shared and what level of disaster response analysis is actually performed.  The public deserves to know, especially those of us living in Texas.

After spending five days with no electricity in bitter cold, trying to keep us and our animals alive in Winter Storm 2021, our electricity bill went up.  Nobody ever apologized. 

The bright side is that no one ever called me "evil" for expecting the basics from our government. 

Update 7-16-25:  First responder audio revealed the first calls regarding flooding came in around 3:30 am on July 4th.  The situation deteriorated with more people experiencing flooding and needing rescue.  At 4:22 am a firefighter asked that a CodeRED be sent out warning people.  It did not go out as no supervisor was available for approval.  (The first warning went out 90 minutes later, others went out as late as 10:00 am)

Outside resources arrived that needed to be coordinated via the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) yet to be set up.  After 4:30 am the river rises from 8 to 30 feet sweeping away all manner of cars, RVs and people.  

The first mention of EOC establishment is at 6:53 am at the Sheriff's Office.  The two people responsible for EOC establishment are the County Judge and Emergency Management Coordinator.  These officials are yet to provide any information on their whereabouts, much less any response to communications about the looming, then ongoing disaster. 

Local officials are supposed to follow the disaster plan and document their actions along the way, sot their reticence to produce of a timeline seems odd.

Update 7-17-25:  Governor Gregg Abbott visited San Angelo today to address flood recovery.  Kerr County's first FEMA level "flash flood warning" was issued on July 6th, two days after the deadly event.  None were issued on July 4th.

Update 7-18-25:  During COVID "Dub" Thomas spoke to the Kerrville Rotary.  His bio stated:

....Emergency Management Coordinator for Kerr County and the City Of Ingram since November 2015 and am responsible for the Kerr County/City of Kerrville/City of Ingram Emergency Management Plan, Code Red, CERT ( Community Emergency Response Team), Kerr County Search and Rescue Team and other disaster related duties as assigned.

Update 7-19-25:  A former Kerr County IT chief told NewsNation: 

“I don’t think there’s any solution other than to replace the people that failed us.” 

 Evidence collected by KXAN – including dispatch audio and FEMA data – shows county officials did not send alerts for hours after a National Weather Service warning, and more targeted alerts did not go out for days.

It's been over two weeks for Kerr County officials to not provide account for the actions/inactions of persons responsible for the local flash flood emergency response.  The County Judge, County Sheriff and Emergency Management Coordinator need to share what they did with their community and not wait for the Texas Legislative Session.  Local government is local accountability.

Update 7-20-25:  Rep. Drew Darby will serve on one of Governor Abbott's committees investigating the July 4th flash flood and subsequent flooding events.  In an interview with an Abilene CBS affiliate Darby stated:

"There really is no early warning system and a way to notify affected people about an impending disaster."

I would challenge his statement.  There are watch and warning systems that rely on people up and down the law enforcement, fire department, emergency management, emergency dispatch, government leader chain to take those watches, begin preparations and accelerate actions when they turn to warnings at the Emergency Operations Center.  When the situation becomes a flat out emergency the EOC has to deal with conditions, resources and adapt their plans accordingly.  

IPAWS allows Alerting Authorities to write their own message using commercially available software that is Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) compliant. The message is then delivered to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS OPEN), where it is authenticated and then delivered simultaneously through multiple communication pathways. Through IPAWS, one message is created to reach as many people as possible to save lives and protect property.

When leaders responsible for setting up the EOC don't respond then no warnings or emergency messages are sent.  None.  That's what happened in Kerr County.  If the people responsible for emergency management don't show I'm not sure what interoperability of communications will do to help.

Update 8-22-25:  Texas Tribune reported:

“Make no mistake, House Bill 1 is fundamentally a bill about failure,” said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, when he introduced it. “The camp failed these girls. The county failed them. The river authority failed them, and in a larger sense, their government.

Missing are the consequences for the people who failed to do their job, the one they were paid for. 

Update 8-24-25:  Parents of the campers killed by flood waters met with Governor Abbott in the days before their testimony to the Texas legislature.

"Cile's life ended, not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures..."

Failures for which their has been no public accountability to date, despite promises by Governor Coach Abbott to take action.

Update 10-15-25:  The Texas Legislature will establish two more committees to look at the deadly flash flood event of July 4. 

Update 12-6-25:  The 911 calls to Kerrville Emergency Dispatch were made public.  The calls reveal increasing desperation and peril.  The calls from the 911 center to Emergency Management Officials are yet to be released.  

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas had been on medical leave after heart surgery but returned to work on November 10th.  Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly is looking to hire help for Thomas.  The top three Kerr County officials continue to cover for each other and they are yet to produce/share an after action report.

Update 12-7-25:  Concho Valley Homepage ran the 911 call story.

Update 4-15-26:  A director of Camp Mystic testified that he:

"had not seen the official weather warnings before the storm, did not convene a staff meeting about the potential flooding and acknowledged that the camp did not have a detailed, written flood evacuation plan."

The cascade of ignorance and lack of preparation was widespread in Kerr County.

Update 4-20-26:  Texas Tribune reported Camp Mystic's security guard testified as to events that evening/early morning:

The security guard at Camp Mystic the night of last year’s deadly flood acknowledged Wednesday that if a general evacuation order came early in the storm, lives could’ve been saved.

Update 4-22-26:  KXAN reported: 

According to the House’s resolution, the committee would be tasked with investigating contributing factors, allocation of resources, effectiveness of preparedness and effectiveness of response and coordination between local, state and federal entities. The Senate’s resolution called for a broader “complete and thorough examination of the facts and circumstances surrounding the flooding events.”

So how did this broad mandate get reduced to summer camps?   It appears there may never be an assessment of Kerr County emergency official's response (non-response) to the disaster. 

Update 5-21-26:  The National Weather Service released a report on the July 4th floods specific to Kerr County.  It states:

....attempted to call both the Kerr County emergency management coordinator and the sheriff’s office starting at approximately 3:38 a.m. but were unable to reach the sheriff’s office until 4:32 a.m. and the emergency management coordinator until 6:19 a.m.

Kerr County officials released their communications that day which show a non-responsiveness to the scope and scale of the disaster.

Update 7-16-26:

The State of Texas, headed by Governor Greg Abbott, continues to not hold Kerr County officials responsible for their abject public safety failures in the July 4th flood.