Texas officials deflect mounting questions about response to deadly flood
KERRVILLE, Texas - Officials in flood-stricken central Texas on Wednesday again deflected mounting questions about whether they could have done more to warn people ahead of devastating flash flooding that killed at least 119 people on July 4.
At a morning news briefing in Kerr County, where the vast majority of victims died, Sheriff Larry Leitha defended the actions of emergency responders as the tragedy unfolded in the early morning hours on Friday.
Pressed about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding, Leitha declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding missing people and that a full analysis of what, if anything, went wrong would come later.
"We will answer those questions," he said. "We're not running, we're not going to hide from everything. That's going to be checked into at a later time. I wish I could tell you that time."
As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, suggesting the death toll could still rise significantly. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday.
The Kerr County seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than a foot of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly 30 feet (9 meters).
The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, including three dozen children, Leitha told reporters.
That figure includes at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe.
In Hunt, a community in western Kerr County, Jose Olvera's family set up a shrine near the spot where he and his wife were swept away by floodwaters outside their ranch house.
The family found Olvera's body next to a nearby stream, his foot protruding from underneath a tree branch. His wife remains missing.
"This could have been avoided, something like this," said Olvera's son, Macedonio, sitting outside the home and surrounded by debris. "There are ways to detect things, appropriate alerts to let the community know what is happening."
Abbott on Tuesday sought to push aside questions about who was to blame for the mounting death toll. Invoking American football as an analogy, he told reporters that blame was the "word choice of losers" in the sport revered in Texas.
"Every football team makes mistakes," he said. "The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who's to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, 'Don't worry about it, man. We got this. We're going to make sure that we go score again and we're going to win this game.'"
The governor said the Texas legislature would convene a special session later this month to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.
COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES
The state emergency management agency warned last Thursday on the eve of the disaster that parts of central Texas faced a threat of flash floods, based on National Weather Service forecasts.
But twice as much rain as forecast ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single channel where it slices through Kerrville, City Manager Dalton Rice has said.
The amount of rainfall in such a short period of time made it impossible to order evacuations without further endangering people, Rice said. He also noted that the county is sprawling and rural, with spotty cell phone service, creating communication challenges.
County officials had considered installing an early-warning system about eight years ago but abandoned the proposal after failing to secure state grant money to fund it, according to the Houston Chronicle. Kerr County sits at the center of a section of Texas Hill Country that is particularly susceptible to flash floods, due to the terrain.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 135 miles (217 km) southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city.
The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement.
Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. REUTERS

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
PSP's CEC renewal shows its commitment to being a reasonable alternative choice, says Stephanie Tan
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox SINGAPORE - Recent changes to the Progress Singapore Party's (PSP) senior leadership represents 'the first step' of its plans to come back from a disappointing performance at GE2025, said PSP's Ms Stephanie Tan. Besides nurturing new leaders, the PSP intends to update its image by putting more of its younger members in the public eye, and to find new ways to engage Singaporeans on important national issues, Ms Tan told The Straits Times on July 10. On July 5, PSP announced that party founder and chairman Tan Cheng Bock had stepped down from its central executive committee (CEC) , alongside vice-chair and former Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) Hazel Poa. Party treasurer S. Nallakaruppan also relinquished his position. In their place, Ms Tan, 37, was co-opted as a new CEC member, together with Mr Sani Ismail and Mr Lawrence Pek. The three of them had been first-time PSP candidates at the May general election. Speaking on ST's The Usual Place Podcast show, Ms Tan said PSP had been gathering feedback from Singaporeans in the two months since GE2025 to 'know where we went wrong and how we can do better'. PSP had fielded 13 candidates in six constituencies, but saw its vote share decline compared to its first electoral outing in 2020. It also failed to keep its parliamentary presence compared to the previous term, when it had two NCMPs. 'We might seem to have been a bit slow in coming up with a response right after the GE, but that's because we were hard hit, to be honest, and we took time (to) come up with a new plan to see how we can steer this ship forward,' said Ms Tan, who ran in Pioneer against the PAP's Patrick Tay. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties Singapore Spike in piracy, armed robbery cases in straits of Malacca and Singapore in first half of 2025 Singapore Singaporean fugitive charged over alleged drug trafficking, faces death penalty if convicted Singapore KTPH trials 'smart diapers' for adult patients to prevent skin conditions, relieve burden on nurses World 'Do some homework': 6 key exchanges between US Senator Duckworth and S'pore envoy nominee Sinha Sport No pain, no gain for Singapore's water polo teams at the world championships Singapore New regional centre for sustainable aviation in Asia-Pacific launched in Singapore Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? 'In the next four to five years, we want to continue to make an impact even if we have no parliamentary presence.' Ms Tan said one of the main things PSP is tackling is perceptions by some that it is an ageing political party, and that the latest leadership shake-up has the support of party chief Leong Mun Wai and the CEC. 'The party does have a pool of young talent,' she said, citing the two elected CEC members who are younger than her: deputy organising secretary Soh Zheng Long, 36, and youth wing head Samuel Lim, 29. 'It is just that, for the past few years, they have been working mostly behind the scenes.' Going forward, the party will give more opportunities to its younger members to raise their public profile, although this has to be balanced with each individual's comfort level at being openly associated with an alternative party. PSP also intends to hold outreach events targeted at specific demographics, alongside the usual walkabouts and house visits. This could include visits to nursing homes to understand issues faced by elderly residents, their family members and the staff, which could be due to 'certain gaps in the policies that we have', said Ms Tan. The party is also thinking of starting a podcast, and wants to up its game on social media to keep putting out its views on key issues, she added. On Dr Tan's move to step down as PSP's chairman, Ms Tan said this is to give party leaders 'a clean slate to work from, away from his shadow'. Dr Tan, 85, has been designated party adviser. Having set its foundations and core values, he trusts that the other party leaders can take PSP forward in the long political journey to come, said Ms Tan. 'He said that he will not interfere on his own initiative. He will help when help is asked for,' she said. A homemaker and former lawyer, Ms Tan said she sees her role on the CEC as a progression from leading her own campaign during the election, to making decisions at the party level. While the party is no longer in Parliament, she hopes that Singaporeans can take a long-term perspective on the PSP's journey. She noted that other opposition parties like the Workers' Party and Singapore Democratic Party have been around for decades, and their experience showed that it takes a lot of time and consistent effort to build a political party and gain the trust of voters. 'Our commitment to Singaporeans is still that we want to continue to build ourselves to be a credible, rational, alternative political party, to give Singaporeans a choice at the ballot box,' she said.

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Deadly Russian attack rocks Kyiv as Ukraine lobbies for aid
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Russia launched 18 missiles and around 400 drones in an attack which primarily targeted the capital Kyiv. – Hundreds of Russian drones and more than a dozen missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital early on July 10, killing two people in a second massive air strike on Ukraine in two days, as Kyiv seeks critical aid from its partners at a meeting in Rome. Nineteen people were wounded and damage reported in nearly every district of Kyiv in the attack. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the assault had involved around 400 drones and 18 missiles, primarily targeting the capital. Explosions and anti-aircraft machine gun fire rattled the city. Windows were blown out, facades ravaged and cars burned to shells, including in the city centre where an apartment in an eight-storey building was engulfed in flames. 'This is terror because it happens every night when people are asleep,' said Ms Karyna Volf, a 25-year-old Kyiv resident who rushed out of her apartment moments before shards of glass showered her home. Ukrainian air defences stopped all but a few dozen of the drones, authorities said. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties Singapore PAP appoints new heads of backbench parliamentary committees Singapore Singaporean fugitive charged over alleged drug trafficking, faces death penalty if convicted Singapore KTPH trials 'smart diapers' for adult patients to help prevent skin conditions, relieve burden on nurses World 'Do some homework': 6 key exchanges between US Senator Duckworth and S'pore envoy nominee Sinha Sport No pain, no gain for Singapore's water polo teams at the world championships Singapore New regional centre for sustainable aviation in Asia-Pacific launched in Singapore Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? Escalating Russian attacks have strained Ukrainian air defences at a perilous moment in the war, now in its fourth year, and forced residents in Kyiv and elsewhere across the country to seek cover in bomb shelters overnight. The July 10 attack came a day after Russia launched a record 728 drones at Ukraine . 'Residential buildings, vehicles, warehouse facilities, office and non-residential buildings are on fire,' Mr Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia's Defence Ministry said it had hit 'military-industrial' targets in Kyiv as well as military airfields. Rome conference Mr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials were in Rome on July 10 for a recovery conference to lobby Kyiv's allies for more critical defensive weapons and investment in Ukraine's war-hit economy. Mr Zelensky urged European allies to 'much more actively' use Russian assets frozen during the war for Ukrainian reconstruction. After US President Donald Trump pledged earlier this week to send more defensive weapons to Kyiv, Washington resumed delivery of artillery shells and mobile rocket artillery missiles to Ukraine, two US officials told Reuters on July 9. Ukraine is also seeking more Patriot air-defence systems that have proven critical to defending against fast-moving Russian ballistic missiles. Mr Zelensky, who said he had a 'substantive' talk with US envoy Keith Kellogg on July 9, will also meet American officials to discuss potential new US sanctions on Russia, Ukraine's foreign minister said. Mr Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated with President Vladimir Putin, saying that the Russian leader was throwing a lot of 'bullshit' at the US efforts to end the war that Moscow launched against Ukraine in February 2022.

Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Teen among 4 arrested for subversion in Hong Kong
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox A flag with the slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times" and a Tibetan flag at a police press conference regarding an arrest operation in Hong Kong on July 10. HONG KONG - Hong Kong's national security police said on July 10 they arrested four people, including a 15-year-old, who were allegedly part of a group seeking to subvert the city state. Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 , after sometimes-violent democracy protests the year before. The new law criminalised four categories of offences: secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion, making the offences punishable with up to life in prison. Chief Superintendent Steve Li said four males aged between 15 and 47 were arrested on July 9 for 'conspiracy to subvert state power'. They played various roles in a group established in Taiwan in November that later called for the overthrow of the Chinese Communist Party, Mr Li said. 'They said they would seek international support and provide military training to Hongkongers abroad,' Mr Li told reporters. A Facebook page matching the Chinese name of the group identified by police had fewer than 70 followers. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties Singapore PAP appoints new heads of backbench parliamentary committees Singapore Singaporean fugitive charged over alleged drug trafficking, faces death penalty if convicted Singapore KTPH trials 'smart diapers' for adult patients to help prevent skin conditions, relieve burden on nurses World 'Do some homework': 6 key exchanges between US Senator Duckworth and S'pore envoy nominee Sinha Sport No pain, no gain for Singapore's water polo teams at the world championships Singapore New regional centre for sustainable aviation in Asia-Pacific launched in Singapore Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? Police also displayed flags seized during July 9's operation, including one of Tibet and one bearing a slogan outlawed by Hong Kong authorities. The four people remained in custody on July 10. Hong Kong enacted a separate national security law of its own in 2024 , which officials said was needed to restore order. As of July 1, authorities had arrested 333 people for various national security crimes, with 165 of them convicted. Beijing's top official overseeing Hong Kong, Mr Xia Baolong, said in June the city must remain on guard for national security threats and 'soft resistance'. AFP