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(NEW YORK) — At 4:22 a.m. on Friday, as Texas’ Hill Country began to flood, a firefighter in Ingram – just upstream from Kerrville – asked the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office to alert nearby residents, according to audio obtained by ABC affiliate KSAT. But Kerr County officials took nearly six hours to heed this call.

“The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39,” the firefighter said in the dispatch audio. “Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”

“Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” a Kerr County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher replied.

The first alert didn’t come through Kerr County’s CodeRED system until 90 minutes later. Some messages didn’t arrive until after 10 a.m. By then, hundreds of people had been swept away by the floodwaters.

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an “after-action” would follow the search and rescue efforts.

“Those questions are gonna be answered,” he added.

Records show Kerr County’s CodeRED Emergency Notification System, which alerts subscribers to emergencies through pre-recorded phone messages, has been in place for at least a decade.

When CodeRED was first introduced by Kerr County and the City of Kerrville in 2014, a government press release claimed it could “notify the entire City / County about emergency situations in a matter of minutes.”

CodeRED relied on the local white pages for users’ contact information, the announcement explained, so “no one should assume his or her number is included.” Residents had to sign up to ensure they would receive alerts.

In 2021, Kerr County incorporated FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) into CodeRED, so that messages could reach tourists and others not in the local database. The IPAWS system allows local officials to broadcast emergency messages and send text blasts to all phones in the area.

At the time, some county officials weren’t sure about the change.

“What’s the benefit?” Kerr County Commissioner Jonathan Letz asked at a May 2021 commissioners’ meeting.

“It’s just another avenue for us to notify people when we have an emergency,” replied Emergency Management Coordinator William “Dub” Thomas.

Then-Commissioner Harley David Belew voted against adding IPAWS to the CodeRED system after noting that it would require switching out the county’s equipment, which he said he’d done recently because of a federal policy change a few years earlier.

“I don’t think it’s going to change anything,” Belew said.

Despite these doubts, Kerr County began using IPAWS alongside its CodeRED system in 2021.

When the area flooded on Friday, Ingram City Council Member Ray Howard told ABC News he got three flash flood alerts from the National Weather Service, but none from Kerr County authorities.

On Monday, Belew went on The Michael Berry Show to discuss the catastrophic flooding. On the show, he said Kerr County Commissioners had considered putting in an early warning system years earlier, but that there weren’t enough cell towers to reach rural parts of the county, “so that idea was scrapped.”

Records show that the topic of a flood warning system for Kerr County came up in at least 20 different county commissioners’ meetings since it was first introduced in 2016 – months before Belew joined the Court.

Belew explained on the radio show that funding for a warning system was also a barrier to implementation, echoing issues he raised at the time, according to meeting minutes.

But even after last week’s tragic flooding, Belew expressed concern over spending on such a system: “God only knows what’s going to happen, what kind of government waste we might get going into an alert system,” he said on Monday’s segment.

“But if we can get any early alert system for the future, that’d give people some peace of mind here,” Belew added. “It’s always been needed.”

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(LOS ANGELES) — At least 31 workers were safely rescued after a tunnel collapsed in a large industrial complex in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The collapse took place at the “18-foot diameter tunnel, being constructed for municipal wastewater management, occurred at an underground (undetermined depth) horizontal excavation site about 5 to 6 miles south of the sole entry/rescue access portal,” LAFD said.

The trapped workers were able to “scramble with some effort” over a 12-15 foot tall pile of loose soil, to meet several coworkers on the other side of the collapse, and be shuttled several at a time by tunnel vehicle to the entry/access point more than five miles away, according to preliminary reports.

“Tonight, we were lucky,” LAFD Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters during a press conference.

Mayor Karen Bass also attended the press conference, telling journalists, “We’re all blessed today in Los Angeles. No one injured. Everyone safe, and I am feeling very, very good, that this is a great outcome. And what started as a very scary evening.”
More than 100 LAFD responders were responding to the scene, including LAFD Urban Search and Rescue team members, “specially trained, certified and equipped to handle confined space tunnel rescue,” according to the department.

Workers were brought out of the tunnel area in a cage hoisted up by a crane; it wasn’t immediately clear if that’s the normal way to go in and out of the tunnel project or due to the rescue.

They came out about eight workers at a time in the cage, and many seemed fine walking out.

At least 27 of the workers are being evaluated by paramedics at the scene, but all walked out without visible injury, according to the fire department.

This tunnel is scheduled to be finished by 2027, according to ABC News’ affiliate, KABC.

Bass arrived at the scene and thanked first responders.

“I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately. You are L.A.’s true heroes,” Bass said on X.

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(KERR COUNTY, Texas ) — In one of the deadliest floods in Texas history, a mother’s worst fears turned into grateful tears when she reunited with her two sons after they survived a harrowing experience at a camp near the Guadalupe River.

The devastating floods that struck central Texas on July 4 have claimed at least 119 lives, with around 170 people still missing. The disaster has been severe in Kerr County, where at least 27 children lost their lives at nearby Camp Mystic.

For Keli Rabon, that morning brought an alarming text message about flooding at Camp La Junta, where her sons Braeden, 9, and his younger brother Brock had arrived just the day before. “There is truly nothing that could prepare you for a moment of uncertainty, which became hours of uncertainty,” Rabon said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday.

The situation quickly became dire as the camp lost power and cell service.

“Once I saw the information coming in from Camp Mystic that had been posted online, it became clear that this was quite a dire situation,” Rabon recalled. “I needed to just get to my boys as fast as I could.”

During the chaos, Brock and other campers climbed into the cabin rafters to escape rising floodwaters.

“Thank goodness the counselors and counselors in training helped all the campers to the rafters,” Braeden said. “They’re kids, too, but like high school grads. It’s just crazy.”

The camp’s director led efforts to evacuate the children to town. When Rabon finally reached her sons, she was overwhelmed.

“It was a rush of all the emotions, from intense gratitude to see them, hold them as tight as I could,” she said. “I tried my best to hold it together and not cry because I didn’t want to scare them anymore.”

But amid her relief, Rabon couldn’t help thinking of other families. While her boys’ experience ended in relief, the flooding claimed lives at other camps in the region.

“There was this immense sense of guilt and fright for the parents who wouldn’t be able to hold their children that night and maybe ever again,” Rabon said. “Words are not enough to express our gratitude for saving our sons’ lives.”

She said she hopes to thank the camp staff in person in the future.

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(WASHINGTON) — Neil Jacobs, the atmospheric scientist nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has vowed to place science, human safety and technological innovation at the forefront of operations if confirmed as the agency’s administrator.

On Wednesday, U.S. senators interviewed Jacobs on how he would run NOAA, the federal agency that manages the National Weather Service, the nation’s primary source for weather forecasts and data, and is responsible for monitoring and managing coastal and marine resources.

“NOAA has an important, unique mission that spans the sea floor to the Sun’s surface,” Jacobs said. “Not only do they conduct cutting-edge coastal and ocean research, but they also provide life-saving forecast predictions in a wide range of environmental phenomena.”

Jacobs said he has a “very detailed understanding” of what is needed to manage NOAA, from the policy, budget and personnel sides as well as opportunities for innovative solutions.

“If confirmed, it would be a tremendous honor to lead such a distinguished organization,” Jacobs said. “I can assure the committee that I will do my best to ensure this team of scientists, engineers, forecasters and uniformed officers have the resources and leadership needed to fulfill their mission of science, service and stewardship.”

Taylor Jordan, the nominee for assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction, and Harris Kumar, nominee for assistant secretary of commerce for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, also appeared in the confirmation hearing,

If confirmed, Jacobs would lead NOAA during a tumultuous time at the agency.

Since his nomination in February, NOAA and the NWS have lost hundreds of staffers, research funding and experienced weather data collection disruptions due to cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

“I support the president’s budget,” Jacobs said, when asked whether he supports cuts throughout the agency.

If confirmed, this would be Jacobs’ second stint leading NOAA. He served as acting administrator from 2019 until Trump left office at the end of his term in January 2021.

He is remembered for the so-called “Sharpiegate” incident that took place during a press briefing from the Oval Office in September 2019. A map of the storm track of Hurricane Dorian appeared to have been altered with a black pen to include southern Alabama, even though the official storm track by the NWS did not have the storm hitting the state.

Trump had also inaccurately declared a few days earlier that the storm would strike the region. Shortly after, NOAA issued a statement that sided with Trump and admonished the NWS for publicly saying that Alabama was not in danger from the storm.

Dorian ultimately stayed east of Florida and did not make landfall in the U.S.

The NOAA Science Council subsequently investigated Jacobs, saying that he violated the organization’s scientific integrity policy by issuing a statement supporting Trump’s incorrect claim about Dorian’s storm track as an official NOAA release.

When asked by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-NM, on Wednesday whether he would “make the same decision again,” Jacobs replied, “There’s probably some things I would do differently.”

At the time of his nomination, Jacobs was the chief science adviser for the community Unified Forecast System (UFS), part of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s (UCAR) Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science at North Carolina State University.

Before serving as NOAA’s acting director, Jacobs was the chief atmospheric scientist at Panasonic Avionics Corporation, where he directed the research and development of its aviation weather observing platforms and modeling programs.

Jacobs was recognized as a 2025 Fellow of the American Meteorological Society earlier this year and holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from the University of South Carolina and master’s and doctoral degrees in atmospheric science from North Carolina State University.

In a podcast interview in November 2024, Jacobs shared his views on the future of government agencies, like NOAA, and efforts by the GOP to repeal and eliminate various weather and climate initiatives within the agency.

“The executive branch can’t just come in and completely change something that’s authorized in law,” he said.

Jacobs also said that “NOAA has all of these congressional mandates that are codified. Congress would have to rewrite a mountain of legislation to undo all that.”

ABC News’ Matthew Glasser, Daniel Manzo and Daniel Peck contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) voted to advance Susan Monarez’s nomination as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday.

The panel voted along party lines 12-11.

Monarez is the first CDC director nominee to require a Senate confirmation after Congress passed a law requiring it in 2022.

If confirmed, Monarez will be the first CDC director without a medical degree since 1953.

Ahead of the vote, in opening remarks, Ranking Member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accused Monarez of allowing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to spread misinformation about vaccines.

“In my view, we need a CDC director who will defend science, protect public health and repudiate Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous conspiracy theories about effective vaccines that have saved, over the years, millions of lives,” Sanders said.

Monarez was named acting CDC director in January, stepping down after she was nominated for the position in March. It came after President Donald Trump’s first pick, Dr. David Weldon, had his nomination pulled by the White House due to a lack of votes.

Weldon was expected to be grilled on his past comments questioning vaccine safety, such as falsely suggesting vaccines are linked to autism.

Monarez has worked in both the public and private sector — including working in the government under former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as during Trump’s first term. Her work has included strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance.

During her confirmation hearing last month, Monarez expressed support for vaccines, in contrast with Kennedy, who has expressed some skepticism.

“I think vaccines save lives. I think that we need to continue to support the promotion of utilization of vaccines,” Monarez said.

While Kennedy has previously cited vaccines as a potential reason behind rising rates of autism diagnoses, Monarez said she did not hold the same view.

“I have not seen a causal link between vaccines and autism,” Monarez said when asked by Sanders last month if she agrees with the American Medical Association’s stance “that there is no scientific proven link between vaccines and autism.”

While the CDC director role has been vacant, Kennedy has had final say over some CDC decisions, such as ending recommendations for children and pregnant women to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Additionally, Kennedy recently removed all 17 sitting members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent panel that provides recommendations on vaccines to the CDC, and replaced them with seven hand-selected members — some of whom have expressed vaccine-skeptic views.

Public health professionals previously told ABC News that, traditionally, only a CDC director would be able to reconstitute ACIP.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

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(KERRVILLE, Texas) — As the floodwaters rushed into Kerrville, Texas, under the cover of darkness on Friday morning, officers jumped into action to evacuate over 100 homes and rescue more than 200 people in one hour, the police department said.

The officers “realized that areas of town that traditionally don’t flood were going to flood, and that low-lying areas close to the river were in danger,” Kerrville police community services officer Jonathan Lamb said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Officers went “door-to-door, waking people up, convincing them that, ‘Yes, the floodwaters are coming, and you need to leave now,'” Lamb said. “They rescued people out of vehicles. They rescued people out of homes that were already flooding, pulling them out of windows.”

“One officer was there by himself, and he realized, ‘I need help.’ He sounded a siren, driving up and down those streets that were beginning to flood, calling on his PA system for folks to wake up and evacuate,” he said. “And then two other officers joined him — through, first, thigh-deep, then waist-deep, then chest-deep water — as they went from RVs [to] trailers and rescued people, carrying them safety through the water.”

Lamb said the tragedy would have been worse without officers’ quick thinking.

“I don’t know how many lives our KPD team saved in an hour in Kerrville. But I know that this tragedy, as horrific as it is, could have been so much worse,” he said.

Lamb commended one officer in particular who he said worked around the clock since Friday morning’s flooding and was then sent home to rest on Tuesday.

“But rather than taking a day off, a much well-deserved day off, he got up and he put on his gear, and he volunteered to go out on foot with a ground search party, and he spent his day up and down the Guadalupe River, going over, under, around trees, searching for victims to try and reunite the missing with their families,” he said.

Friday morning’s catastrophic flooding has claimed the lives of at least 95 people in Kerr County, including 36 children, officials said on Wednesday.

The county said 161 people remain missing.

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(INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla.) — A 77-year-old Vermont man was killed on Sunday afternoon as he attempted to rescue a turtle on Interstate 95 in Indian River County, Florida, authorities said.

The fatal accident occurred around 4:20 p.m. on the southbound lanes of I-95, just north of Sebastian Boulevard, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The man was crossing the lanes when a chain-reaction crash unfolded, investigators said. A Miami woman driving a vehicle slowed down to avoid hitting the pedestrian, but a Dodge Ram pickup truck behind her failed to brake in time, authorities noted.

The pickup truck rear-ended the first vehicle, which then veered off the road, crashed through a fence and came to rest on the west side, according to authorities. The Ram continued southbound and struck the Vermont man, who was thrown to the left shoulder of the highway, officials said.

First responders pronounced the man dead at the scene, officials noted. Florida Highway Patrol confirmed to ABC News that the turtle didn’t survive either.

“The turtle did not receive a favorable outcome in the crash,” Lieutenant Jim Beauford said in an email.

The driver of the Dodge Ram, identified as a 53-year-old Port St. Lucie man, and the occupants of the other vehicle — a 44-year-old woman and her 49-year-old male passenger — were not injured in the crash, authorities said.

The southbound lanes of I-95 were closed following the incident while authorities investigated.

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