William Thomas of Kerr county tells hearing illness meant he did not take part in emergency planning meetings
A key emergency official was sick and asleep for most of the day before devastating flash flooding swept through Texas hill country and killed more than 130 people over the Fourth of July weekend.
Kerr county’s emergency management coordinator, William B Thomas, had not spoken publicly since the floods, one of the state’s worst ever natural disasters. Questions have swirled about his absence and the lack of sufficient warnings to residents about the impending storm before the Guadalupe river surged to record levels in the early hours of 4 July.
Thomas told a hearing held by state lawmakers in Kerrville on Thursday he wanted to address questions about his whereabouts. He said he had previously planned to be off work on 3 July “to fulfill a commitment to my elderly father”. Due to a “progressing illness”, he had stayed at home. He said his supervisor was aware he was off.
“I stayed in bed throughout 3 July and did not participate in the regularly scheduled 10am and 3pm Texas emergency management coordination center coordination calls,” Thomas told the hearing, which was attended by hundreds of Kerr county residents.
