Texas flood response timeline: Here's what's in the report
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Travis County Judge Andy Brown was questioned by state lawmakers about the county’s initial response to floods that devastated parts of Central Texas in early July. Now, the county is releasing new information about its response, including details about what officials knew and when.

In a timeline sent to lawmakers — which Brown’s team also shared with affiliate KXAN — the county showed information it received from the National Weather Service (NWS) and emergency management officials, including the number of first responders on-hand and the calls they received, resources sent to the county, and actions taken by Brown in the days that followed.

You can find the full document here:

The timeline begins July 4 and goes through August 8.

What’s in the report

Early on July 4, Travis County says it sent STAR Flight helicopter teams to Kerr County, where there was significant flash flooding. At the time, conditions were not considered significant in Travis County.

One helicopter was unable to arrive “due to weather conditions.” Another made it to Hunt, just west of the Guadalupe River’s North and South forks.

“This crew was the first to land at Camp Mystic. [They] performed hoist rescue of two adults from the River Inn; five total hoists during day-one. Evacuated three injured victims from an isolated area to the Kerrville hospital. Six victims were evacuated to the casualty collection point. Responded to investigate numerous reports of potential victims,” the timeline says.

Just before 11 p.m. July 4, the Travis County Office of Emergency Management duty officer reported “no anticipated severe impacts to Travis County” from the flooding.

An hour later, the duty officer called dispatchers at the Travis County Sheriff Office to see if anyone reported flash flooding. No one had, according to the county.

The duty officer asked dispatch to send a deputy to check Cow Creek near FM 1431.

Just after midnight on July 5, the NWS issued a Flash Flood Warning via text message, which was “the first NWS warning to include the areas of Big Sandy/Windy Valley,” the document said.

At 12:23 a.m., the county says it received its first request for a water rescue and at 12:36 a.m., the OEM duty officer requested that the NWS upgrade its alerts to a Flash Flood Emergency (the most severe alert), which it did at 12:41 a.m.

The timeline says the volume of calls to TCSO was more than 600 above normal volume for the day of July 5.

The county’s report listed agencies whose first responders assisted with the calls in the early hours of July 5, including ESDs 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, Round Rock Fire, Austin Fire, Austin-Travis County EMS, Leander Fire and Texas Infrastructure Fire Mutual Aid System.

The county also requested that STAR Flight respond to the Big Sandy Creek area in the early morning hours of July 5, but it was “unable to fly in that area because of lack of visibility and torrential rain,” the timeline said.

At 6:30 a.m. July 5, the Travis County Emergency Operations Center was activated and at 9:35 a.m., Brown had directed staff to issue a Local Disaster Declaration.

At 10 p.m., a situational report from the county showed the following happened on July 5:

  • More than 50 people evacuated, nine rescued
  • Overnight security was set up by TCSO in two impacted neighborhoods
  • 78 first responders from 12 agencies were deployed

Starting July 6, much of the first responder effort became focused on search and rescue/recovery. KXAN put together a timeline of what we saw and have documentation of in this report.

The situational report from July 6 shows the following, in-part:

  • Search and rescue crews covered roughly six miles of Sandy Creek “focusing on residential areas”
  • ATCEMS says two boat teams rescued 25 people from floods
  • The Big Sandy Bridge and Juniper Trail Bridge were closed because of structural damage
  • At this point, the Round Mountain Baptist Church had been identified as a reunification center and a support line was set up

The timeline also details other responses from the county in the aftermath including: Getting Wi-Fi and cellular coverage set up near the Sandy Creek area, when the Big Sandy Bridge was evaluated and temporary solutions were set up and when Lake Travis was closed to recreational activities.

You can read the report in full here.

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