The top emergency coordinator in Kerr County, Texas, said he had been sick the day before catastrophic flooding hit Central Texas but defended his response.
“To those who ask, what would you have done differently? The honest answer is that, based on the data we had at the time, there was no clear indicator that a catastrophic flood was imminent,” William “Dub” Thomas said Thursday during a joint hearing held by the Texas Senate and House’s select committees on disaster preparedness, his first public remarks since the tragedy.
“The situation evolved faster than anyone could have predicted,” he added.
Devastating flooding in Central Texas killed at least 138 people over the July 4 weekend. In the weeks since the tragedy, Thomas has come under scrutiny for his absence from key city council meetings and lack of explanation for the tragedy.
As the Guadalupe River began rapidly rising early July 4, Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson expressed concern that the three people tasked with responding to emergencies in the county had been unavailable. Thomas was sick and in bed; the area’s highest elected official, Judge Rob Kelly, was at his family’s lake house; and Kerry County Sheriff Larry Leitha was asleep until he was roused hours after the first warning.
Officials from the nearby town of Ingram have also expressed concern about where Thomas was when the National Weather Service sent out the first flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. and who was coordinating the response in those critical hours.
Thomas, who was awakened by his wife that morning around 5:30 a.m., said that he didn’t issue a cellphone alert to those in the flash flood zone because the National Weather Service had already done so. He did not use the warning system to issue an evacuation order, either. The first alert that the county issued was not until July 6.
Thomas said he fell ill on July 2, but did not elaborate on his symptoms. That night, his symptoms worsened. He spent the whole next day, a scheduled day off, resting in bed.
“In my absence, my supervisors and sheriff’s office leadership were aware that I was off duty,” he said.
When his wife woke him up on July 4 after receiving a call from Kerrville Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Hughes telling him to mobilize, he immediately reported to the sheriff’s office. Within 30 minutes, he said he was “actively coordinating” the response.
“There was no visible flooding on my drive into the office, but it quickly became clear that the situation was escalating,” he said.
During the Thursday hearing, state Sen. Charles Perry told participants not to “throw rocks” or assign blame. But many were frustrated that Thomas had not spoken publicly in the weeks following the disaster.
Even two weeks after the devastating floods hit the region, as Thomas’ constituents and nearby leaders demanded answers, he was nowhere to be found. Thomas cancelled an appearance at a city council meeting, citing a scheduling conflict.
“We have no information,” Mayor Claud Jordan told those who attended the meeting. “Nobody’s called us. We were hoping to hear from [Thomas], but I guess not.”
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s most senior elected official, was also questioned about his response to the crisis. He was at his lake house in the early hours of July 4, preparing for a family gathering.
“We received no alerts suggesting an extreme weather event was imminent,” he testified Thursday.
When he woke up to urgent texts, Camp Mystic, a nearby summer camp for young girls, had already flooded. At least 27 staffers and campers died.
Kelly said that the flooding was “something I could never have imagined.”
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