Tragedy strikes in Texas – dozens dead, countless injured

The state of Texas is reeling today after flooding claimed the lives of dozens, a toll that continues to rise and includes many young children.

While Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared Sunday a day of prayer to mourn their loss, family members and friends, not to mention the entire country, are looking for answers as to how this could happen.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tried to address the issue, but so far, his answers are coming up short.

The Flooding

The Guadalupe River, which runs from Kerr County to San Antonio Bay, flooded after heavy rainfall on Friday. The storm caused the river to rise about 30 feet in 45 minutes.

Sadly, Camp Mystic, which is an all-girls private Christian camp, was located along the river.

The camp has more than 750 attendees, with dozens of campers being swept out in the flood, as well as some adults.

From the last reports I saw, there were at least 68 suspected dead, and there were still dozens of missing campers that authorities have yet to locate.

Accountability

I love Texas, but there is no excuse for something like this, and when Governor Abbott came out to declare a day of prayer after the floods, I was angered because I wanted information as to how this could possibly happen with the technology we have available today in terms of seeing storms and getting people prepared.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) knew the criticism was coming, stating, “There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing, a lot of second-guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking. There’s a lot of people saying ‘why’ and ‘how,’ and I understand that.”

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official, stated, “We know we get rains. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming.”

I have lived in areas prone to flooding, and I can tell you flat out that when storms like this were on the radar, officials literally came around to make us leave the area, no exceptions. So why did that not happen here, and why was the camp permitted to be open with a storm like this on the radar?

Lt. Gov. Speaks

On Sunday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick addressed the flooding with the media, stating, “There were alert warnings that went out, we believe, by the locals. But if you are a resident and you signed up for it, you got it. But if you happen to be a stranger who just came in for the Fourth of July weekend, you might not have had that.”

Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd added, “The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill County. The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”

Notice how Kidd referred to the initial forecast, but did not mention a forecast that came out around dinner time on Thursday, which stated, “Rapid runoff is expected, with locally considerable flash and urban flash flooding possible … the nocturnal timing will also enhance the hazard potential and impacts.” That forecast also noted there was a chance of historic rainfall.

To me, as someone who has experienced this in the past, that camp and all activities around the river should have been evacuated and shut down. Granted, that is hindsight, but if actions were taken on Thursday night, we may only be talking about property destruction today instead of what might wind up being close to 100 or more children dead.

There are still more than two dozen children missing, and authorities are not giving up hope just yet, but the situation is not good. For now, we work on finding these missing children. Once that is done, someone must be held accountable, and the warning system and subsequent actions clearly need to be revamped to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Perhaps Abbott and company need to get on the phone with Governor Ron DeSantis, who has an amazing record in dealing with natural disasters such as this.