On Monday, July 7 the death toll from the flooding in central Texas reached 82. Search and rescue teams are still looking for over forty missing people, including several young girls who were camping at Camp Mystic.

The intense flooding occurred after extremely heavy rain caused the Guadalupe River to rise by more than twenty feet in certain locations on July 4. Kerr County has sustained the most deaths from the flooding, but there were also deaths reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Williamson and Tom Green.

As the search continues for missing Texans, many are asking why such a tragedy occurred in the first place, with different leaders casting blame elsewhere. The highest elected official of Kerr County, Judge Rob Kelly, said at a press conference that the National Weather Service failed to accurately predict the level of rainfall. When asked why the camps weren’t evacuated, he told reporters that he “couldn’t answer that.”

However, the National Weather Service has countered that claim by noting they did predict the amount of rainfall and issued a flash flooding warning at 1:14 a.m. on Friday, July 4. The Kerr County Sherriff’s department waited over three hours before reporting on the potential impact of flash flooding.  

The National Weather Service has endured some crippling losses over the last few months since the Trump administration took office. In fact, many key posts in weather stations in San Antonio and San Angelo remain vacant. But many meteorologists are noting that the forecasting before the flooding was accurate, but disseminating the emergency information should have been seriously reconsidered. According to a timeline created by NPR of the flood watches were reported on Twitter, a platform many people have never joined or have either left.

Kerrville’s Police Department posted on their Facebook page at 6:16 a.m. on Friday, July 4 about the extreme weather, and urged residents near the Guadulupe River “to move to higher ground.” Even though the area is prone to flooding, Kerrville does not have weather sirens like other cities or towns in Texas. There is no state or national guidance regarding emergency sirens.

There was a bill that passed the Texas House this past legislative session that would have bolstered emergency alert systems throughout the state. However, the bill languished in the Texas Senate. And the State Representative from Kerrville, Wes Virdell, voted against the legislation.

Stories about the victims of the central Texas flooding are just starting to emerge, including about the children. Among the victims were two sisters, Blair and Brooke Harber, who were thirteen and eleven, from Dallas. They both attended St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas and were visiting their grandparents at a cabin near the Guadalupe River.

Though there are several camps in the affected region, Camp Mystic has endured the most tragedy. There are still 27 girls unaccounted for. The director of the camp, Richard Eastland has also died, presumably trying to rescue the campers.

Governor Abbott faced heavy criticism for the first press conference held after the flooding on Saturday, July 5, where he spent the first several minutes lavishing heavy praise on Donald Trump and his administration. It was only at the end of the conference when Abbott and other officials announced the death toll. Abbott also said at that press conference that “prayers do work.”

On Fox News Senator John Cornyn also came under fire for some deeply insensitive remarks about the situation. Cornyn called it a “sad time,” but also wanted to highlight that over 850 campers were rescued.

This story will be updated throughout the week