Texas floods live updates: Camp Mystic emergency plan approved 2 days before disaster

Braxton Jarmon, a student at Glenn High School in Leander, Texas, was among the 119 people killed in the devastating floods.

Braxton was a rising sophomore, Glenn High School Principal Josh Haug said.

“This unimaginable loss leaves us with heavy hearts…thank you for keeping Braxton and the Jarmon family in your hearts,” Haug wrote.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said his family was in central Texas amid the devastating flooding.

Youngkin said his family is now safe.

“My family was there along with friends, and by the grace of God, my family was safe,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I have to say there was moments when they weren’t. They ended up being safe during the day. I arrived on the 4th after my July 4th activities here.”

Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas, slammed Governor Greg Abbott in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

Doggett criticized Abbott for using a football analogy to argue that people should not “point fingers” over the floods.

“Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who’s to blame” Abbott said. “The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions. What Texas is all about is solutions.”

Doggett said the floods are “not a game.”

“People’s lives are at stake and the losers are the ones that don’t learn from the mistakes, that don’t hold people accountable,” he told CNN. “In this case, I think there are accountability issues at every level of government.”

Graig Graziosi has the story:

Joe Friday, the former director of the National Weather Service, said he’s concerned the Trump administration’s cuts to the agency may have impacted the response to the Texas floods.

“The loss of decades of experience, especially at senior levels…will have a negative impact on overall service,” Friday wrote Wednesday on Facebook. “We said we feared that these reductions would possibly lead to the loss of lives. I am afraid that is now playing out.”

Experts have previously warned that the Trump administration’s decision to fire around 600 people from the agency could have drastic impacts on its ability to issue accurate forecasts.

Despite the cuts, nearby NWS offices had “adequate staffing” during the storms, CNN reported. However, centers were missing a few key employees due to early retirement incentives offered by the Trump administration in an effort to reduce the government’s workforce.

The Austin-San Antonio office was missing a warning coordination meteorologist — who helps link forecasters with local emergency managers — while the San Angelo office was missing a meteorologist-in-charge, according to CNN.

“I believe the NWS did a good job with the warnings and forecast for the Texas floods, but the loss of senior, experienced people may have made it more difficult to get the information the “last mile” to the individuals in danger,” Friday said. “The [meteorologists-in-charge] and [warning coordination meteorologists] establish a close professional and frequently personal relationship with the emergency managers and other local officials.”

“They know with whom and how to get in contact in various situations, etc.,” he added.

A firefighter with the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department requested Kerr County officials send out an emergency alert about the potential floods on Friday morning around 4 a.m., at least 90 minutes before the alert went out, local outlet KSAT reports.

When the request was made, the Kerry County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher told the firefighter they would first have to get their supervisor’s approval, according to KSAT.

Residents have reported receiving the alert sporadically. Some received the alert after 5 a.m. Friday, while others didn’t get their first alert until 10 a.m., Texas Public Radio reports.