{"id":1633,"date":"2025-07-08T20:56:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T20:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/08\/as-deadly-storms-subside-texas-flooding-puts-spotlight-on-govt-response\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T20:56:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T20:56:36","slug":"as-deadly-storms-subside-texas-flooding-puts-spotlight-on-govt-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/08\/as-deadly-storms-subside-texas-flooding-puts-spotlight-on-govt-response\/","title":{"rendered":"As deadly storms subside, Texas flooding puts spotlight on gov\u2019t response"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in the US state of Texas<\/a> continues to dim a day after the death toll surpassed 100, and crews kept up the search for people missing in the aftermath.<\/p>\n

As the storms that had battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to subside, more attention was being paid to the government\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as \u201cflash flood alley\u201d.<\/p>\n

At public briefings, officials in hard-hit Kerr County have deflected questions about what preparations and warnings were made as forecasters warned of life-threatening conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,\u201d Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said on Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. But many were caught by surprise.<\/p>\n

Debate has also intensified over how state and local officials reacted to weather alerts forecasting the possibility of a flash flood and the lack of an early warning siren system that might have mitigated the disaster.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick promised that the state would \u201cstep up\u201d to pay for installing a flash-flood warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments \u201ccan\u2019t afford it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should have been sirens,\u201d Patrick said in a Fox News interview on Monday. \u201cHad we had sirens here along this area \u2026 it\u2019s possible that we would have saved some lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Houston Chronicle and New York Times reported that Kerr County officials had considered installing a flood-warning system about eight years ago, but dropped the effort as too costly after failing to secure a $1m grant to fund the project.<\/p>\n

In San Antonio and in Washington, Democrats are questioning whether cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) affected the forecasting agency\u2019s response to catastrophic and deadly flooding in Central Texas.<\/p>\n

The White House and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have denied the allegations and accused them of \u201cpoliticising\u201d the disaster.<\/p>\n

The NWS\u2019s San Antonio office is responsible for forecasting the area\u2019s weather, collecting climate data and warning the public about dangerous conditions. Texas officials criticised the NWS over the weekend, arguing it failed to warn the public about impending danger.<\/p>\n

The office issued a stream of flash flood warnings on Thursday and Friday across its digital and radio services, which are used to communicate with public safety professionals, according to alert records.<\/p>\n

The messages grew increasingly urgent in the early hours of Friday morning. The team sent an emergency text message to area mobile phones at about 1:14 am, calling it a \u201cdangerous and life-threatening situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Phones must have reception or be near a cell tower to receive that message, said Antwane Johnson, former director of the Public Alert Team for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mobile coverage is spotty in areas around the Guadalupe River, according to Federal Communications Commission records last updated in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though those messages were issued, it does not mean it got to the people who needed them,\u201d said Erik Nielsen, who studies extreme rain at Texas A&M University.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a closer look at the timeline of how the floods hit Texas and what warnings were sent when:<\/p>\n

July 2 <\/strong><\/h2>\n