Floods

Texas Officials Were Asleep When Deadly July 4 Floods Hit

Published AUG 1 2025

Story

Above: Widespread damage in and around Kerrville, Texas, on July 6, 2025. Image credit: Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Facts

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William B. Thomas IV was ill and asleep in the early hours of July 4 when catastrophic floods struck. He reportedly missed critical calls on July 3 and did not awaken until 5:30 a.m.
Newsmax
People
The flooding killed more than 130 people, including dozens of youths and counselors at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp, with the Guadalupe River rising over 20 feet per hour and exceeding 220,000 cubic feet per second.
ABC7 New York
Newsmax
BBC News
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha was asleep until 4:20 a.m. when deputies woke him, while County Judge Rob Kelly was out of town at his Lake Travis lake house near Austin, around 100 miles away, preparing for a family gathering.
Fox8
People
The National Weather Service issued its first flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4, followed by additional alerts at 4:03 a.m., but Thomas chose not to send county alerts through the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System.
NBC
Daily Mail
Responders realized it was an urgent, all-hands-on-deck situation by 3:30 a.m., when dispatchers received calls from families requesting air evacuation, with over 650 radio transmissions and 100 emergency calls in the first few hours.
ABC7 New York
Newsmax
TPR
Local officials testified that Kerr County lacks an updated warning system along the Guadalupe River, following several missed opportunities by state and local agencies to finance one. Residents reported they had no warning of the impending emergency.
Breitbart
Newsmax

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

While more than 100 souls perished in Texas floodwaters, including 37 children, the emergency management director slept through the catastrophe, awakening only after summer camps were already submerged. This unconscionable dereliction of duty exposes a broken system where those entrusted with protecting lives abandon their posts when communities need them most.

The Texas Tribune

ABC News

Narrative B

America's reflexive blame game transforms every tragedy into political theater, obscuring the complex realities behind disasters. While over a 100 souls lie dead and families grieve, partisan warriors exploit corpses for Twitter points rather than seeking genuine solutions. This vulturous spectacle of finger-pointing ensures we'll repeat these failures — accountability requires truth not tribal scorekeeping.