TLHLIM
- Thread starter sturg33
- Start date
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
CNN —
As Central Texas reels from flash floods that killed over 100 people this weekend, questions are sharpening about whether officials could have done more to avert the tragedy – both in the decades leading up to the disaster, and in the moments after the Guadalupe River began cresting its banks.
In recent years, multiple efforts in Kerr County to build a more substantial flood warning system have faltered or been abandoned due to budget concerns, leaving the epicenter of this weekend’s floods without emergency sirens that could have warned residents about the rising waters.
And while at least one neighboring county issued evacuation orders in the morning hours of July 4, Kerr County officials don’t appear to have done so.
A review of typically off-the-record communications from a real-time messaging system operated by the National Weather Service showed that no emergency manager from Kerr County was sending messages or interacting with NWS staff on the platform, even as emergency officials from other counties were doing so. CNN was granted permission to report some of the information from this platform.
The lack of messages doesn’t mean officials in Kerr County weren’t monitoring the communications from the NWS and acting on them. But it raises new questions about local officials’ actions, particularly in a crucial window between NWS’s first public warning alert at 1:14 a.m. and a more urgent flash flood warning sent several hours later.
Some local officials have defended the decision not to order broad evacuations, saying they were concerned cars could have been trapped in quickly rising waters.
Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator W.B. “Dub” Thomas declined to comment when CNN asked him to explain actions the county took in the early morning hours of Friday.
“I don’t have time for an interview, so I’m going to cancel this call,” he said.
Local officials have long acknowledged the risk of deadly flooding in Kerr County. At a 2016 meeting, County Commissioner Tom Moser declared that Kerr was “probably the highest risk area in the state for flooding,” and described the county’s early warning system as “pretty antiquated” and “marginal at the best.”
Moser, who retired from the commission in 2021, told CNN that his efforts to improve the local system hit wall after wall over the years. After massive flooding elsewhere in the Hill Country region in 2015, Moser said he studied how nearby Comal County had installed sirens, adopted plans for shutting off low-water crossings and made other flood preparations.
He suggested that Kerr County follow suit. But some locals questioned where the funding would come from, while others worried about noise: “Some people didn’t like the concept of sirens going off and disturbing everybody,” Moser said.
One of his fellow commissioners, H. A. “Buster” Baldwin, voiced those concerns at a 2016 meeting.
“The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of night, I’m going to have to start drinking again to put up with y’all,” said Baldwin, who died in 2022, according to a transcript of the meeting.
As Central Texas reels from flash floods that killed over 100 people this weekend, questions are sharpening about whether officials could have done more to avert the tragedy – both in the decades leading up to the disaster, and in the moments after the Guadalupe River began cresting its banks.
In recent years, multiple efforts in Kerr County to build a more substantial flood warning system have faltered or been abandoned due to budget concerns, leaving the epicenter of this weekend’s floods without emergency sirens that could have warned residents about the rising waters.
And while at least one neighboring county issued evacuation orders in the morning hours of July 4, Kerr County officials don’t appear to have done so.
A review of typically off-the-record communications from a real-time messaging system operated by the National Weather Service showed that no emergency manager from Kerr County was sending messages or interacting with NWS staff on the platform, even as emergency officials from other counties were doing so. CNN was granted permission to report some of the information from this platform.
The lack of messages doesn’t mean officials in Kerr County weren’t monitoring the communications from the NWS and acting on them. But it raises new questions about local officials’ actions, particularly in a crucial window between NWS’s first public warning alert at 1:14 a.m. and a more urgent flash flood warning sent several hours later.
Some local officials have defended the decision not to order broad evacuations, saying they were concerned cars could have been trapped in quickly rising waters.
Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator W.B. “Dub” Thomas declined to comment when CNN asked him to explain actions the county took in the early morning hours of Friday.
“I don’t have time for an interview, so I’m going to cancel this call,” he said.
Local officials have long acknowledged the risk of deadly flooding in Kerr County. At a 2016 meeting, County Commissioner Tom Moser declared that Kerr was “probably the highest risk area in the state for flooding,” and described the county’s early warning system as “pretty antiquated” and “marginal at the best.”
Moser, who retired from the commission in 2021, told CNN that his efforts to improve the local system hit wall after wall over the years. After massive flooding elsewhere in the Hill Country region in 2015, Moser said he studied how nearby Comal County had installed sirens, adopted plans for shutting off low-water crossings and made other flood preparations.
He suggested that Kerr County follow suit. But some locals questioned where the funding would come from, while others worried about noise: “Some people didn’t like the concept of sirens going off and disturbing everybody,” Moser said.
One of his fellow commissioners, H. A. “Buster” Baldwin, voiced those concerns at a 2016 meeting.
“The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of night, I’m going to have to start drinking again to put up with y’all,” said Baldwin, who died in 2022, according to a transcript of the meeting.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Funny how some rando poster on the internet is held to greater account for posting this kind of trash. While back at the ranch the actual for real people we elected President and Vice President of the United States campaigned on the idea that dark-skinned immigrants were eating our cats and dogs. With little or no adverse reaction around these parts.
sturg33
I
If I showed you examples of elected officials and college educators spewing anti white rhetoric, would you share my concern?
If so, would be the first time
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
I don't have anything against white people. I do have problems with those who nod along when the actual for real people elected President and Vice President of the United States campaign on the idea that dark-skinned immigrants are eating our cats and dogs. Those are the people we have elected to the highest offices in our country. It seems to me that is the actual for real scandal. Not just that they campaigned on the idea that dark-skinned immigrants are eating our cats and dogs. But that they were elected after doing so.
chop2chip
Well-known member
Eh I think you’re miss remembering the cats and dogs thing. I think the majority of this board slammed Trump and especially Vance pretty hard after he said that in the debate.
sturg33
I
You didn't answer my question
And as a reminder, sturg33 didn't vote for the ticket you're whining about.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
eh...i don't think i'm the one misremembering
chop2chip
Well-known member
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
so to summarize
it is deplorable when anyone tries to demonize white people or any group
we have a President and Vice President who campaigned by demonizing dark-skinned immigrants...we have posters here who were ok with that and wish they could have found more effective ways of accomplishing this
chop did himself some honor in calling this out...i didn't notice anyone else
it is deplorable when anyone tries to demonize white people or any group
we have a President and Vice President who campaigned by demonizing dark-skinned immigrants...we have posters here who were ok with that and wish they could have found more effective ways of accomplishing this
chop did himself some honor in calling this out...i didn't notice anyone else
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
i think both are very offensive
we have in office a President and Vice President who campaigned by demonizing dark-skinned immigrants...we have posters here who were ok with this or criticized him for not finding more effective ways to demonize and dehumanize immigrants
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
having now taken the time to review the thread in question i hope you can see that you were mistaken in this
the more important point is that the country elected Trump and Vance after this
chop2chip
Well-known member
lol I am not reading that thread. I took the time to clear my name. If you want to label everyone else racist, I’ll defer the burden of proof to you