JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The response by local officials to the July 4 flooding in Texas Hill Country is in the spotlight today in Kerrville, Texas. That's the area that suffered the most fatalities. More than 130 people died in those floods as rain poured and rivers rose in the predawn hours. And today, hundreds of people lined up at a youth center for a chance to speak before a special committee of the Texas legislature. There were stories of grief, as well as criticism of how local leaders handled a storm that no one saw coming. Blaise Gainey of member station KUT and The Texas Newsroom joins us. Hi.
BLAISE GAINEY, BYLINE: Hey, how's it going?
SUMMERS: I'm well. Blaise, just tell us what the scene was like where you are.
GAINEY: Yeah. Well, we're in what looks like a high school auditorium with about 200 or more people in the building. There are lawmakers, emergency officials, and then there's just a good number of regular, everyday Texans who came here to talk about what they experienced. And walking around, you can pick up on some conversations. There are people who are very frustrated and unhappy with how things were handled, some of them still displaced to this day - mind you, this happened on July 4. We're about to go into a new month. But yeah, a lot of people here lined up ahead of the meeting starting just to tell lawmakers what they experienced.
SUMMERS: What types of things did you hear from survivors who came?
GAINEY: Yeah, there were stories of people just not being aware of floods coming, and then before you know it, the next thing, they're in the middle of having to use survival instincts to save the lives of their loved ones or their own. Here's Alicia Jeffrey Baker. Her parents and her 11-year-old daughter died in the flood.
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ALICIA JEFFREY BAKER: My parents bought a cabin out here in 2008, so this was our regular happy place. The river that we loved so much killed them (crying).
GAINEY: And there's been a good number of stories like this. And mind you, we haven't heard a lot of public testimony yet. Another woman talked about having to climb from their car into a cedar tree to survive and waited for hours before being rescued.
SUMMERS: Local officials were grilled by lawmakers about the actions that they took during the floods. Spell out some of the issues there.
GAINEY: Yeah, a lot of confusion over who makes the emergency alert calls, who activates the alerts. And it seems protocols just weren't followed to the tee. Some emergency officials weren't even notified about the storm until hours after people were in need of rescue. Two key officials said they were asleep when the water rose. One of them was sick, and the other - the county's judge - was out of town. Democratic state Representative Ann Johnson said she heard stories from people about girls in camps calling for help with water around their feet at around - in their cabins at 2 a.m.
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ANN JOHNSON: The three guys in Kerr County who were responsible for sounding the alarm were effectively unavailable. Am I hearing that right?
GAINEY: Now, it should be noted that pretty much everyone acknowledged that these floods and rains were so unpredictable and fast that people just didn't see it coming. But it doesn't seem like lawmakers want to hear that right now. They want to know how can they make sure lives aren't lost when events like these happen in the future.
SUMMERS: Last thing, Blaise. What is the purpose, the intent of this hearing? What is supposed to come from this?
GAINEY: Yeah, well, lawmakers are supposed to be grabbing and understanding recommendations, and eventually putting forward solutions during this special session they're currently in. So they're expected to write up laws on disaster preparedness. They're looking at things like more money for early warning systems and river gauges, rules for camps and also standards for local emergency officials.
SUMMERS: That's Blaise Gainey from KUT and The Texas Newsroom. Thank you.
GAINEY: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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