KERR COUNTY, Texas – Kerr County released thousands of pages of texts and emails on Tuesday afternoon detailing officials’ response during the catastrophic July 4 floods in the Hill Country.
Records include messages sent to and from top county leaders as they responded to the flooding, which swelled the Guadalupe River to historic levels before sunrise.
The flooding left more than 117 people dead, including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic.
In one email at 6:27 a.m., Judge Rob Kelley told Emergency Management Coordinator William “Dub” Thomas he was checking in on storm damage, asking it if was “emergency declaration time.”
“Just checking in regarding storm damage. I’m at Lake Travis (for) the 4th but reports I’m getting a footage I’ve seen from West Kerr looks like our drought finally broke,” Kelley wrote. “How bad is it there. What do we need to be doing.”
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha messaged Kelley at 6:31 a.m. to call him as soon as possible.
At 8:02 a.m., Kelly texted Thomas that he was heading back to Kerrville.
State leaders have criticized Kelley, Thomas and Leitha for their response to the flooding.
After the floods, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed Kelley for his delayed response, adding that he asked multiple times on July 4 where Kelley was.
Records show Gov. Abbott and Sen. Cornyn also sent texts to Kelley on July 4.
Thomas was sick in the days leading up to the flooding, but says he was actively coordinating the county’s response that morning.
Kelley texted the county’s spokesperson around 8 a.m. July 4, saying it’s a “s--- show out west,” referring to the western part of the county.
He also messaged about “Governor’s wife frustrated in Western County somewhere but that’s not to be repeated.”
In a separate text, Kelley told the head of the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) about six fatalities and a missing group of girls from a camp.
“We can confirm six fatalities at this point expecting that to climb and we have a group of missing girls from the camp out west please do not release this information to this for your ears only to share with your confidence there,” Kelley wrote.
In one message, Leitha said Abbott wanted to know “ASAP” about Camp Mystic. Leitha also discussed where to take Camp Mystic survivors in a group chat.
In another message, Leitha says “It’s Bad!!!” Leitha is also told about a list of missing children from Camp Mystic.
Records from Thomas’ work cellphone show Kerr County Sheriff’s Office Captain Scott Prout appears to have taken the lead on search and rescue efforts, with Thomas largely unavailable.
Around 7 p.m., Leitha says he was told Game Wardens may have pulled out several dead children.
This is a developing story. KSAT is working to go through additional records and will continue to report findings.
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