By Matt Underwood Kerr County, Texas, lead emergency management official says he was asleep during deadly flooding, and it’s hard to know where to begin sorting through the fallout. The initial reaction is, well, surprise. Then, probably a healthy dose of anger. A lot of people are going to be asking some very pointed questions. The situation involves William “Dub” Thomas, the Kerr County Emergency Management Director since 2015, who has stated he was, in fact, asleep during the unfolding of a devastating flash flood.
Let’s be clear, everyone gets sick, right? It’s entirely understandable that he called out sick on July 3rd. We’ve all been there. But the core issue isn’t necessarily that he was sick; it’s the absence of a robust contingency plan. The entire organization should have had a clear succession plan in place. There should have been someone else on standby, ready and able to step into his role during his absence. The question that immediately springs to mind is: who was his backup, and what were their duties?
The absence of a backup plan is the glaring issue. Redundancy in leadership, particularly in an emergency management role, is absolutely essential. This isn’t just about having a warm body to answer the phone; it’s about a structured response, a plan already in place to deal with the very situations they’re charged with preventing or mitigating. The fact that this level of preparedness seems to have been lacking is, frankly, concerning.
It’s likely a lot of folks are going to look at this and shake their heads. People might be quick to dismiss the whole thing as an “act of God.” But you can’t just ignore the fact that one key person, the guy at the top, was unavailable. This isn’t just about missing a few meetings; it’s about a critical role in a crisis. It’s not about “defunding weather services” or “vague correlations of incompetence.” This is a guy who appears to have been asleep at the wheel while lives were at stake.
One might even question the timing of the absence. It’s understandable to want to take a sick day, but the convergence of an emergency with a lead official’s absence is a recipe for disaster, especially when considering warnings were issued prior. And the lack of a backup, or any type of chain of command that could keep things running during his absence, is nothing short of irresponsible. There’s a very real possibility his employment should be terminated.
The situation is further compounded by reports the lead was informed of the emergency unfolding after being contacted by the City of Kerrville Emergency Management Coordinator. This suggests that the emergency was, for all intents and purposes, already underway before he was even aware. The fact that it took a phone call from someone else to alert him of the unfolding disaster speaks volumes about the overall lack of a coordinated response.
There are also reports that alert systems were not utilized. The sirens were not activated, and instead, there was reliance on cell phones to reach county officials. And the guy who was in charge of the alert systems left his position three weeks prior to the flooding because of budget cuts. It seems the entire system failed, and this has nothing to do with whether someone was “woke” or not. The blame goes to those who didn’t prepare for emergencies, not the federal weather services. It’s a failure of leadership and a deficiency in organizational structure.
The point is, the NWS issued alerts hours before the flooding hit. Had those warnings been heeded and acted upon, some lives might have been saved. The fact that this didn’t happen points to a breakdown in communication and, critically, a lack of preparedness at the local level. The question becomes, where were the backups? Where were the protocols? Where were the emergency plans?
This isn’t just about one person being sick, it’s about the entire system. At the end of the day, if the lead official is ill, someone has to be ready to step in. The idea of an emergency management role being utterly unstaffed, even temporarily, is fundamentally flawed. It is not acceptable. It is his responsibility to ensure there’s someone to step in and manage the situation. It’s that simple.
We’ve worked at places where there is an emergency call tree. When someone isn’t available, someone else is, and someone else after that. Hospitals have detailed emergency weather plans with backups and clear instructions. Even a simple helium balloon attraction requires someone to be responsible 24/7, watching conditions. There is no excuse for a lack of preparedness.