By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -Texas state lawmakers met during a special session on Wednesday, to address for the first time the deadly flash floods that hit the Texas Hill Country this month, killing at least 137 people.
Senator Charles Perry, chairperson for the joint Senate-House committee investigating the preparation for and response to the flooding, said the committee did not want to assign blame, but sought “constructive policy solutions which will remit future loss of life.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott included the investigation on the agenda of a special legislative session that opened on Monday. Abbott said on social media that the death toll from the July 4 flash flooding ticked up to 137, and a man and a girl remained missing.
Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, was the first person lawmakers called to testify. He described the vast state’s emergency response system as fragmented. Under the system, each of 254 counties maintains control over ordering evacuations. Such an order was not given in the hardest hit areas earlier this month.
Kidd told lawmakers that to improve preparation for natural disasters, he needed better in-house radar systems, better communications systems to warn local leaders and residents, and more resources for evacuations or to assist residents who shelter in place.
The high casualty toll ranked as one of the deadliest U.S. flood events in decades, raising questions about the lack of flash-flood warning sirens in hardest hit Kerr County. Many have expressed concern about vacancies at National Weather Service offices due to staffing cuts under President Donald Trump.
The legislative committee investigating the floods will next meet on July 31 in Kerr County. The committee will write a report to be forwarded to the full Texas Senate and House to inform possible legislation during the month-long special session.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; Editing by David Gregorio)
