AUSTIN (KXAN) — The joint Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding is meeting Thursday in Kerrville, Texas — the site of the deadly Independence Day Floods — for the second time to hear testimony about the preparation and aftermath.

Last week, lawmakers heard hours of testimony from state officials and other experts to understand what could be improved. The legislature is currently in special session, tasked with updating flood warning systems and passing a disaster relief package.

The committee is hearing from additional invited guests, including local leaders who have defended their preparations and response to the fast-rising waters.

During the day’s testimony, it became apparent there was a lack of on-duty leadership in the key initial moments of the flooding.

William “Dub” Thomas, Kerr County’s emergency management coordinator, told lawmakers that he was sick the day before the flooding occurred and missed two calls with Texas Emergency Management officials. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha and Thomas both acknowledged being asleep as a crisis was unfolding.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick expressed his frustration.

“I’m not pointing a finger, I’m not blaming you, I just want to set the record straight. Everyone was here that day working their ass off, and you were nowhere to be found,” Patrick said as the audience applauded.

In other testimony, local officials said they needed but lacked an updated warning system, when flash flooding swept away homes and vehicles and left families begging for rescue on the roofs of their homes earlier this month.

Others who testified Thursday before an audience of hundreds of people — some who wore green ribbons in memory of the victims — called for urgent improvements for better flood warnings and flood mitigation.

Public testimony began with residents of the Sandy Creek area in Leander, Texas, in Travis County. They say that in the weeks since the flood, Travis County has failed them.

Another said that she was told by county officials that they knew flooding was imminent, but no evacuation notice came. When the notice finally did came, it was an evacuation for wildfires, not floods, the resident said.

The hearing comes as authorities have begun publicly releasing records and audio — including 911 calls — that have provided new glimpses into the escalating danger and chaos in the early hours of the July Fourth holiday. They include panicked and confused messages from residents caught in trees as well as families fleeing with children from homes with water creeping up to the knees.

“People are dying,” one woman tells a 911 operator in call logs released by nearby Kendall County. She says she had a young relative at a church camp in Kerr County who was stranded along with his classmates because of the high waters.

“I don’t want them to get stuck in a low-water crossing. And what are they going to do? They have like 30 kids,” the woman says.

Residents along the Guadalupe River have said they were caught off guard and had no warning when rainfall struck. Kerr County does not have a warning system along the river after several missed opportunities by state and local agencies to finance one.

Abbott and Texas Republicans have signaled no appetite for assigning blame for the disaster or second-guessing decisions by local officials, who have described the scale of the disaster as one that no one could have seen coming.

At the first hearing by Texas lawmakers this month, Texas’ chief emergency management official called for better accreditation for county response officials. Democrats, meanwhile, have questioned whether officials had done enough to provide sufficient infrastructure for flood-prone areas in rural counties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.