Kerr County leaders were invited to join a severe weather call the day before the July Fourth flood

KERR COUNTY, Texas — The Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) knew severe weather was coming on July Fourth, but they didn’t know where. 

One day before, on July 3, TDEM sent thousands of invites to local leaders to listen in an a “Situational Awareness Call for Severe Weather Affecting the State of Texas.” The call could also be viewed on zoom and included a weather presentation. 

“This briefing is designed to provide real-time, high-level information in a very short time period,” said the email sent to county leaders. 

TDEM Chief Nim Kidd later told lawmakers at a July 23 hearing, “We had a 10 a.m. statewide weather call that morning. We have these calls anytime we think local partners need to be aware of what is happening in their areas and to ensure that state agency resources  on the emergency management council are there to support our local government partners.”

At 10 a.m. 468 different lines jumped onto the call.  

At the same time, it’s not clear if any Kerr County officials were on the call. 

On July 9, after the flooding hit, a reporter directly asked Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring if he was on that call or if he had been invited to the call. Herring said he did not receive a call and then said he wasn’t invited on one. 

“I did not receive a telephone call,” Herring said. “I wasn’t invited to the call. I’m not trying to deflect…” 

Of course, you don’t “receive” the TDEM call. You call the number provided via email. 

KENS 5 contacted TDEM and requested a list of the people that been invited to the call.  

It turns out, Mayor Joe Herring was on that list of people invited. TDEM also invited Kerrville Emergency Management Coordinator Jerremy Hughes, Kerr County Mayor Rob Kelly and William Thomas who serves as the Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator, according to the county website. 

KENS 5 reached out to County Kerr County on Friday and asked if either the judge or the emergency management coordinator were on the call. County officials did not answer the question. 

Still, the weather forecast on that 10 a.m. call did not predict anything close to 11 inches of rain in Kerr County. It did say there was a slight risk of flash flooding. It said there would be general thunderstorm activity.  It predicted “minor to moderate river flooding.” It predicted 2 inches locally. 

National Weather Service Forecasts would then change significantly over the next 14 hours and there was a flash flood warning for Kerr County by 1:14 a.m. the next day.