A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
In Texas, lawmakers are hearing from survivors of last month's deadly floods that killed more than 130 people. Some of those who survived appeared at a public hearing Thursday to share emotional stories of their experiences. At the same hearing, lawmakers criticized local leaders who went to bed before the flooding started and slept through the rains and rising floodwaters.
Blaise Gainey from The Texas Newsroom was at the hearing. Blaise, people lined up for a chance to speak at this public hearing. What did they have to say?
BLAISE GAINEY, BYLINE: Yeah, mostly they talked about the lack of warning that floods were coming, or that they would be this intense. Some didn't know where to evacuate. And for those that did, when they tried, those routes out to higher land were already flooded. One woman who spoke was Nancy Zdunkewicz. She and her parents tried to drive away in the middle of the storm, but it just didn't work.
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NANCY ZDUNKEWICZ: We've weathered many storms, but July 4 was completely different. We climbed on top of our cars, and then we climbed into cedar trees. And I had to help my 66-year-old mom (crying). Several of our dear friends and neighbors lost their lives that night - people we've known for a lifetime. So we're actually very, very lucky.
GAINEY: Yeah. And others weren't so lucky. A woman named Alicia Jeffrey Baker spoke. She lost her parents and her 11-year-old daughter in the flooding. She spoke through tears, as a family member kept an arm around her.
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ALICIA JEFFREY BAKER: My parents bought a cabin out here in 2008, so this was our regular happy place. The river that we loved so much killed them (crying).
GAINEY: Yeah. These people have been telling these stories before in the media, but for many, it was the first time in a public setting, and in front of state lawmakers, where they could let them know what occurred.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. That was difficult to hear there. Now, I know the details of that night are still being kind of pieced together. It seems, though, like some legislators, though, drilled down on whether local officials could have done more.
GAINEY: Right. Pretty much everyone agrees that this level of flooding was not expected or predicted, but lawmakers zeroed in on three Kerr County officials - the sheriff and the emergency management coordinator, who were asleep as the waters rose. The local judge, who also oversees emergency management, was a couple of hours away, out of town. Republican state representative Drew Darby was among one of the few lawmakers who picked up on that.
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DREW DARBY: We have a lot of folks who have titles, but when the time came to act, they did not do so in a timely fashion.
GAINEY: But the local leaders said no one knew the floods were going to be this bad, and didn't realize it until people needed rescues. And they said poor local cell service and broadband just made things tougher once they were out.
MARTÍNEZ: So what do legislators say they're going to do next?
GAINEY: Well, they're in a special session all month, and these hearings are supposed to help them craft new laws. One of the things brought up in the hearing was that some of the youth camps in the flood area, where a lot of people died, didn't have evacuation plans. So they might require that moving forward. Then they're looking at money for sensors, sirens, alert systems and financial assistance for areas that get hit by flooding pretty often.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That is Blaise Gainey of The Texas Newsroom. Blaise, thank you very much.
GAINEY: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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