Greg Abbott (00:16):
How are you all doing?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
[inaudible 00:00:17] So blessed at all and everyone, what you've done is amazing. Thank you so much. Really appreciate all of you. It's overwhelming and beautiful. It's so beautiful.
Greg Abbott (00:49):
Don't know if you noticed, but I began coming here about 20 years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Have you?
Greg Abbott (00:57):
My daughter was a camper here. [inaudible 00:01:05].
Speaker 1 (01:05):
We're all Mystic girls. My daughter and granddaughter [inaudible 00:01:10].
(01:12)
Oh yeah. But yeah, we just thank you so much for being here. This is helping. We're overwhelmed with all of you that help.
Greg Abbott (01:23):
We're not letting go.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Thank you. There's so many people that need you.
Greg Abbott (01:28):
The house may be gone, but we're not.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you. We needed to hear that.
Greg Abbott (01:33):
Yeah. We're not giving up until every last person's recovered, until every piece of debris is removed, until all the roads are rebuilt, until everything is done to make sure order is restored for the future. You live here in Hunt? Yeah. Whereabout?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
39 off of [inaudible 00:01:59].
Greg Abbott (01:59):
Okay, so you had some elevation where you were.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yes. Thankfully we were on a hill. [inaudible 00:02:05].
Greg Abbott (02:06):
I know. I know. I've never seen anything more than a river. So sorry. So sorry for you. Be assured that a week goes by, we're not going away. We will not leave until the job is done. God bless you. Keep you in our prayers. Thank you, everybody, for being here. I visited with some locals who live around here, including a family member of the owner of this store. I let her know that I first came to this store about 20 years ago, 21 years ago. Been to this store every year for many years. I've seen these little campers since they were just a little bit bigger than toddlers, young kids. I've seen them grow and mature into beautiful young men and women. Nothing is as heart-wrenching as hearing the stories of what the girls around here, especially the girls at Camp Mystic went through, to see where they lived in one moment, where they disappeared the next moment, and were gone forever a few moments after that.
(04:05)
I wanted these people to know, I want you all to know the hearts of our fellow Texans are breaking every single day because of what people of this community and the surrounding area are going through. There's nothing more important on our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost. I told them what we were doing, not just today, but what we are going to be doing for the days, weeks, and months to come. This is what they needed to hear. They need to know Texas is in this with the people in the hill country right here. We are not leaving until this job is finished. The primary job right now continues to be locating everybody who is affected by this flood. There still remain those who are missing. We have to find every single person who's missing, and that's job number one.
(05:18)
While we are doing that job, it's important that we also be conducting other business affecting the storm. We did several things in that regard today. One is to get a better assessment about what exactly needed to be provided for the community. We took a flyover to get that assessment. I've been here for multiple times over the course of the past two decades, but multiple times over the course of just this one flooding episode, and I have a good feel on the ground of what is needed. But when you're in the air, you get a fuller perspective of how widespread, how catastrophic the damage is and what must be done to fully address it.
(06:03)
We were able to process that better today when we flew around and on that fly-around today, I had with me the Speaker of the House, Dustin Burrows, who's going to speak after myself. I want to provide you with some information, some of which is just now updated. First, the numbers that I have is that there are 94 fatalities, 94 fatalities associated with this flooding event in this area. Separate from that, in other flooding events in other parts of the state of Texas, there's another 15 fatalities for a total of 109. To put this into perspective, just in the current Kendall counties alone, there are far more fatalities than there were in Hurricane Harvey. That's how catastrophic this is.
(07:05)
I also have some updated numbers on those who are missing. First from Camp Mystic, my information is those who are missing is down to now five campers and one counselor, five campers and one counselor missing. In addition to that, there is another child not associated with the camp who is missing. So for Kerr County, that would be a total of seven who are missing. In other parts of the state, there are 12 who are missing. I have a new number, however. So one thing we've been reaching out to the public about is to get better information about those who were not registered at a camp. Those who were not registered at a hotel. Those who may have been down here, who no one really had any accounting of, and through law enforcement agency working together, they provided me this number. Just in the Kerr County area alone there are 161 people who are known to be missing, and again, that comes from combined law enforcement efforts. 161 known people who are missing.
(08:27)
Know this, we will not stop until every missing person is accounted for. Know this also, there very likely could be more added to that list. One way that we were able to expand the list of those who are missing is because family members, friends, neighbors, et cetera, begin calling in and reporting them as missing. What I want to do is, once again, provide a reminder to anybody watching this that if you have a friend, a family member, somebody that you think may be missing because of this storm, we need you to call the number that I'm about to give you. It is 830-258-1111. That's 830-258-1111. If you want to go to a website address, you can go to kerrvillemissing@dps.texas.gov. I'm going to repeat it twice more. That's Kerrville, spelled K-E-R-R-V-I-L-L-E, no space. Then the word missing, M-I-S-S-I-N-G. So kerrvillemissing@dps.texas.gov. So either call that phone number, go to that website and provide the name and the best identification you can and the last known location of anybody that you think is missing. Know this also, if you make a prank call or provide false information, that's a crime. Do not provide false information because you're hindering our ability to undertake this investigation, hindering our ability to actually rescue and find those who truly are missing. So you better be correct when you're calling in and let us know that there is somebody who is missing.
(10:26)
Importantly, we know that so many families are going through grief that's beyond anyone's comprehension right now, beyond any of us being able to walk up to them and give them the magic words that will make them suddenly feel healed. We know that they need grief counselors. We have five organizations that together are providing dozens of grief counselors for all of the affected family members around here. It's so important at times like this for family members to access that grief counseling so they can have their mental and emotional health needs addressed in what may be the most challenging time of their lives.
(11:14)
Something else that's a help as we begin the process of helping places like the Hunt Store, the local community, Hunt, Texas, be able to rebuild, one thing that is speeding that recovery was the immediate granting of the major master declaration that was granted by President Trump. It immediately opened not only access to more funding, but also access to more resources to be able to more quickly and more effectively respond to this storm. That includes debris removal, which has already begun. It includes assistance for individuals who are eligible to apply, and the director of Texas Division of Emergency Management will explain more about that in a second.
(12:02)
But there are two categories of people or entities that there is money available to assist. One are individuals affected by the storm. Another are public entities like the town of Hunt, like the town of Kerrville, like the county of Kerr, et cetera. They may have needs with regard to roads or utilities, whatever the case may be. Now the assistance is available for them to more effectively and more quickly address that.
(12:33)
With regard to roads, anybody who's driven around here knows that there are some roads that need repairs. The Texas Department of Public Safety is working 24/7 to make sure they're going to be getting these roads repaired and passable as quickly as possible.
(12:49)
Going back to President Trump, he and I spoke again this morning and he could not stop talking
Greg Abbott (13:00):
About how sad he was for all the little girls who have lost their life. He recounted his own understanding of what happened with what was really a tsunami wave of wall of water that swept too many of them away. And he cares a lot about those young ladies. And he wants to step up and make sure that any need that we have here in Texas is going to be met very quickly. And he has already done that by helping to provide the quick assistance by sending down Secretary Kristi Noem who … Listen, I've been dealing with events like this for 10 years. Never have I seen someone respond as quickly and as effectively as what Secretary Noem did.
(13:48)
Also, while coming over here, I received this text from Secretary Kennedy. It says the following, it says, "Governor Abbott, it's Secretary Robert Kennedy." It says, "We are set to declare a public health emergency for the Texas Hill Country flash floods. This will make it easier for a healthcare and mental health providers from out of state to help both by traveling to the area and by telemedicine. Please let us know where we can be most helpful," which I will let him know. But I just wanted you to know about that new update.
(14:31)
Now, I would like to turn things over to the speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows.
Dustin Burrows (14:42):
Thank you, Governor. First, to the members of the community and all those who have been impacted, the survivors, those who've lost loved ones. I know there's not any adequate words any of us can express to share our care and concern. But I want to promise you, every person in this state, every tip of it, we have held you in our thoughts, in our prayers, and we will continue to do so as you go through this and you take care of what I know all Texans can endure.
(15:14)
I had the opportunity to fly with Governor Abbott today over the damaged area. It is hard to comprehend the amount of water that came through in such a short period of time. It is unimaginable what the victims and survivors went through is they were faced with that and we heard the stories about that and looking at the problems and all of the damage that's been done I know there's a long road to recovery.
(15:43)
But through that we saw some silver linings. We saw Texas flags being flown proudly because we know people of this state are resilient. We saw people from all over the state coming together and working and volunteering and trying to begin helping rebuild and continuing with the search and recovery efforts. I have had members of the Texas House from all over the state looking for ways to help. You have a great local representative with Wes Riddle. But I promise you, every Texan, all 150 members of the Texas House have been looking for ways to help. Whether it's helping to raise money or wanting to do things, they are committed to it.
(16:28)
I want to thank Governor Abbott for saying that we will address these issues in a special session in two weeks, and I want to assure you, the Texas House will be organized. We will be ready and we stand willing and able to listen to the community and experts and do all that we can to help address it from this perspective. So thank y'all very much for the opportunity. I'll turn over the microphone.
Greg Abbott (16:56):
This is the kind of event that the Speaker of the House would have come to in an ordinary situation. When you consider the fact that we're going to start a special session two Mondays from now, a special session that will have it the top of its agenda helping communities like in Kerr County, Kendall County, as well as in Central Texas and the Big Country, all areas affected by the floods of the past week. Those issues are going to be on the agenda for the state to address from top to bottom. We want to make sure that when we end that session, we end it making sure these communities are better, more resilient, and have the resources that they need for the next chapter of their lives.
(17:44)
Now, we have the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Freeman Martin.
Freeman Martin (17:55):
Governor. Thank you. The governor said it. We have 109 fatalities and 161 missing. Every asset and resource that the Department of Public Safety has is being used on this response. We have 258 people just from DPS assigned here in Kerrville. They're from the Highway Patrol, the Tactical Marine Unit, criminal investigators, Texas Rangers, SWAT, IOD and ICT ,and Victim Services, and you ask, " Well, what do all these do?" Everybody does something different. Everybody understands search and rescue.
(18:36)
When the governor mentioned 161 missing, the city of Kerrville stood up a line that, "If you can't get ahold of a loved one, if they're missing in the Kerrville area, call this number." That number grew to several hundred. These analysts worked with Kerr County Sheriff's Department and the Kerrville Police Department to narrow that down. People that have been identified as deceased, people who have been found alive. De-conflicted, the numbers that have been reported twice, and we are still down to 161 missing.
(19:08)
All I can tell you is there's nothing to celebrate about how well we've done this far but there's a lot of work to be done. And we're thankful that the speaker standing behind us and the governor, the Texas legislature has funded us when we're properly staffed and equipped to respond to this. Just this last session a few weeks ago, we were given six replacement helicopters and one fixed wing. That is exactly what we use to respond to these. I'll tell you another thing. We have plenty of resources. But at the same time, we're not turning down one resource until we recover every last person on this list of 161. So we have FBI, DEA, HSI, the United States Border Patrol, the United States Coast Guard, everybody working together under a unified command, and we won't stop until we finish.
(20:02)
A couple of things. Right now in Burnett County, we have three Zodiac boats and 26 DPS personnel from the Tactical Marine Unit and the Texas Highway Patrol continuing searching. I'm in constant communication with the Travis County Sheriff, Sally Hernandez. They are helping us at the Medical Examiner's Office and at the same time, they have as many as 10 people that are missing from Travis County. As we pulled in the parking lot, I got off the phone with [inaudible 00:20:26] they recovered [inaudible 00:20:31] three people that were swept away and just minutes ago they recovered their last victim in Williamson County.
(20:36)
There's a lot of work to be done in Kerr County and Kendall County. We will continue to grow this and add additional agencies as we go forward. But we will, the Governor's right, we won't stop until every last body is recovered alive or not, so thank you very much. Thank you, Governor. Thank you.
Greg Abbott (20:55):
Now, General Seltzer with the Texas National Guard.
General Seltzer (21:01):
Thank you, Governor. I just got off a helicopter about an hour-long helicopter trip with the Governor, and I can tell you what I saw was miles and miles of massive devastation. The Texas National Guard will stay here working with our federal, state, and local partners to search for the missing and to help our communities recover. You can't hear? Okay. Just the trucks?
(21:38)
W will continue using assets such as search crews on the ground, high-profile military vehicles, Black Hawk helicopters with rescue hoists and heavy Chinook helicopters in order to conduct search and rescue, evacuation, and to insert critical safety teams into austere areas to help life saving.
(22:02)
Aiding us in the effort today is the arrival of four Black Hawk helicopters from the state of Arkansas that grows our agency count to 13 helicopters in support of this effort. Additionally, overhead for the last three days, we have had MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft conducting search and rescue operations. We are working with other states to get additional crews to support so that we can expand the coverage of that search and rescue operation. And lastly, we have shelter management crews that are working within the community to help those in need.
(22:49)
I would like to close by saying something that the governor has said many times before. He's said it many times today, but I'll emphasize it. Your National Guard will not leave until every person is found. And we will not lead leave until our communities are recovered. Thank you.
Greg Abbott (23:07):
Thank you.
(23:14)
General Seltzer rightfully mentioned, and thanks the state of Arkansas for helping out with those Black Hawks as well as other resources. I jotted down from memory what I think is every state that I know has either provided help or offered it or it's on its way. I say that I'm hoping I'm not leaving anybody out, but our fellow governors in fellow states are helping out from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts. And I regret if I missed your state. I'll try to come back to it here in a second.
(23:52)
But next is Chief Nim Kidd with the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Cheif Nim Kidd (24:02):
Thank you, Governor. I want to start by thanking all of you for standing out here in this heat and experiencing a little bit of what the volunteers and first responders are dealing with around the clock as we continue our search.
(24:12)
We have four priorities. They are the continuation of the search. They are debris cleanup and removal. They're supporting individual assistance programs and public assistance programs. I'm going to dive into some of the details of those. We continue our search operations not just here in Kerr County, but in the other five counties we have people that are reported missing. As you can see and hear by the trucks passing by, debris cleanup is well underway. I want to thank the volunteers and all of the private sector partners that are out there working on debris operations right now. This will aid in the continuation of our search.
(24:44)
We are pushing forward to help those whose homes and businesses have been impacted through the FEMA Individual Assistance program. The President's program has people here on the ground today that are working to get people registered through our websites and start opening disaster recovery centers today and tomorrow. Damage assessments for those locals are still underway, and we've had over 1,000 submissions into the ISTAP program. Please, if you have not submitted into the ISTAP program yet and your home or business was impacted, you send that information to us.
(25:16)
Next. Well, that didn't work out. Continue to work on our public assistance for our communities working to get our roads repaired, our debris cleaned up, our water, wastewater, and utilities back up online. Finally, I need your help in getting the message out to help keep the roads cleared. You've seen a lot of damage in these roads as our tech stack crews are out trying to repair those roads right now while we still have a lot of traffic in our emergency operations. I want to thank you again for your time and your patience and helping us get this message out.
Greg Abbott (25:50):
Thank you, Chief.
(25:53)
Yesterday, I met with families that can't
Greg Abbott (26:00):
I made a commitment to them. Before I met with residents of Kerrville. Today I met with residents of Hunt. I made a promise to all of them. Texas will not stop until we finish the job. We will not stop until we identify, recover every single body. We'll not stop until every road is rebuilt. Every inch of debris is removed. We'll not stop because we are a state that cares about our people, cares about our communities, and will be with them every step of the way. We'll take a few questions.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Governor Abbott.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
[Inaudible 00:26:47] already had that conversation with the [inaudible 00:26:55] I asked [inaudible 00:26:57], he really didn't respond to our questions related to how long it took them to evacuate the people. Can you speak on that?
Greg Abbott (27:04):
So obviously the local officials who were on the ground at the time would know the most about that. But let's talk about it in this way. That's going to be one of the issues that we begin to address in less than two weeks in the state legislature. We're going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure that we're going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Governor Abbot. Over here.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
When Uvalde happened, Governor, you led an investigation. Are you going to ask for investigation in this case?
Greg Abbott (27:44):
So we say when Harvey happened?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
No. Uvalde.
Greg Abbott (27:45):
Oh, Uvalde.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Uvalde happened, and it was gross negligence back then. Now this happened and the death toll who is enormous. Are you going to ask for investigation? Who is to blame here, Governor?
Greg Abbott (28:01):
Right. So I'm going to talk about two different things. The first part of your question, and that is an investigation. We know a special session's coming in about 10 days. That's where, I would say it begins. Currently, those investigations will begin by both the House and Senate before when we go into session. So probably beginning later this week or the early part of next week, there'll be committees formed that are already working on ideas about ways to address this.
(28:31)
Second part of the question needs to be addressed. You ask, and I'm going to use your words, who's to blame? Know this. That's the word choice of losers. Let me explain one thing about Texas. And that is Texas, every square inch of our state cares about football. You could be in Hunt, Texas, Huntsville, Texas, Houston, Texas, any size community, they care about football. High school, Friday night lights, college football or pro. And know this. Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who's to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say, don't worry about it, man. We got this. We're going to make sure that we go score again, that we're going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions.
(29:24)
What Texas is all about is solutions. In fact, I want to read you something that I received last night, that's worth emphasizing to put this in context.
(29:36)
"Tragedy has come. That part is done. What we do now, who we are now, that's what the story is still being written. Let it be one of grace, of grit, of fierce love in the face of grief. Let it be the kind of story that proves that the hill country may flood, but it does not fail. Say what you will about Texas. But when the rivers rise, so do we. Not with blame, not with bitterness, but with boots on the ground, arms around strangers and hearts wide open. That's the Texas I know, and that's the America that I believe in."
(30:30)
What this person wrote is what I know is true for all Texas and what we will achieve every single day.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Governor Abbott over here, sir.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
What kind of legislation do you hope to see from this special session?
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Part of the legislative process is policies not made in a vacuum. We have ideas. I've served on two investigatory committees out of the House before I was speaker. Both Uvalde and Panhandle wildfires. There are things and things that we can talk about. But it is too early to commit to know the specifics until we actually talk to the members of the community and hear what they think. Talk to the experts in the field. Talk to the first responders. That's what legislative hearings are for. We are ready to get started. The legislators, I talked to the members of the House, and I know the Senate are very interested in finding solutions to not accept that we can't do better, but we will have those hearings. We will synthesize what we get and we will come up with legislation that I believe will make it to the governor's desk and make us a stronger, better, more resilient Texas.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Governor Abbott over here, sir. Governor, clearly there's growing concerns in this community.
Speaker 6 (31:41):
Governor, what are you [inaudible 00:31:42] may be a little too late.
Greg Abbott (31:44):
Well, so one thing that we're focused on is making sure that we deliver the right solutions. One thing the speaker just said is worth emphasizing. And that is that for us to provide real solutions, we actually need to hear from the people who are the ones most affected. The ones most affected, they're dealing with the grievance of having lost a child or lost a business or otherwise have their lives turn upside down. They don't have the capability right now providing that information. We'll talk to local leaders, importantly, not just here, but across the state. And we want to make sure that we address what happened here, but at the same time, we want to make sure that we are able to implement measures that are going to be able to prevent loss in other regions going forward.
(32:32)
So we have our work cut out for us, but I know the members of the House, the members of the Senate. I know we'll work and get some meaningful things done.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Governor Abbott over here, sir. First of all, we want to acknowledge that superhuman work that's happening for these rescue and recovery efforts, but there are growing concerns in this community about who was in charge during those critical hours when that first alert came in at 1:14 and when the wall of water arrived here just before 5:00 a.m. What is your level of concern here and what are you looking into personally?
Greg Abbott (33:01):
So again, my focus isn't on trying to say, oh, you did wrong, or you should have done better there. My job is to bring Texas and Texans together and make sure that we immediately start delivering on solutions. You talk about the heroic effort. And no one has seen the level of response as what Texas has provided over the past four days or so, and we continue to maintain that response here while also going to the State Capitol and working on around the clock responses there to make sure that we do deliver real solutions for these people sitting right behind you.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And then follow up for Chief Kidd, please.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
[inaudible 00:33:44]
Greg Abbott (33:45):
Sure. So your question is about what local officials knew? You'd have to ask them. What the state was aware of? The state was aware that there was a possible serious flooding event days in advance, and we pre-positioned assets and resources and personnel. And remember the flood began on Friday morning. We originally positioned those assets, resources of personnel on Wednesday. Then when greater clarity was discerned on Thursday, we moved them closer, added and made sure that we had adequate supply going into Friday. So we were ready with the resources on the ground to be able to quickly respond.
(34:27)
Some people say, well, we responded so fast. One reason we did respond fast is because we had assets here already. That said, we didn't know the magnitude of the storm. We knew that there was a flash flood warning and if you heard a flash flood warning, no one would know that that would be a 30-foot-high tsunami wall of water, I don't think. But all I could tell you is the information we had, the state had, and that we acted on was information that catalyzed us to begin putting assets and resources in place two days before the event happened.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Chief Kidd. Chief Kidd a follow-up, sir.
Greg Abbott (35:05):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
[inaudible 00:35:17] as a community, we've come together and try to be prepared. With all due respect, I had no idea you were going to be here today. I was out with a team, about 180 of us, ex-marines, ex veterans, Navy SEALs, game wardens. I'm I'm a 28-year-old from here. [inaudible 00:35:55] We were not left with resources. I mean, there [inaudible 00:35:55]. How to figure out how they're here was left totally up to each person. Unless you were on social media or had a way to get it [inaudible 00:36:01]. Half of these people still don't have internet. Where we're sitting right now, we're so grateful we're sipping on our water. They don't have it.
(35:55)
I went out today or last night. I spent about seven and a half hours doing an article on Facebook. I don't use social media. Couple days ago, there was a vineyard. No one was touching it. We had been told that it was cleared. I was like, "Look, I don't use social media. I'm going to pull this up. I'm going to post a video." I helped out John in the vineyard. Within 10 minutes, we had 20 people and eight skids. It was going crazy. That whole vineyard, over 100 acres, was taken care of in three days. God bless all the people that showed up.
(36:39)
We had people who are not certified probably condone and lead about 90% of the recovery that we've seen. We are so grateful for everyone that has been sent. But we were strong. We came together and all of a sudden we got infiltrated with visitors. We got infiltrated with news crews. And we were told, if we didn't have the certifications, we couldn't be here. My only certification is that I've chased every storm almost since 2017 [inaudible 00:37:10] that's hit Texas and I've gone there and fought.
(36:49)
Yesterday I was driving, after about 7 hours of making a post for resources for everyone around here and for my family. And I just happened to be driving and some Navy SEALs were walking out with game wardens. They asked for a ride out to Mystic. I took them. I asked what they were doing. They said, we went down there. They they pretty much had cleared this property that they worked so well on. They had worked there for several, several days. They completely wiped it out. They were so efficient. If I can say so myself, I know they they recovered. They helped those families that now have answers because they were out there. They said, "Ma'am, we're done. Where do you want us?" I said, "I got you a place." We started up towards Lantana.
(37:54)
About five trucks of us are coming up to Laguna. And we got word that there was a smell. We stopped. We surveyed this untouched land. Completely untouched land. It's like 10 ft from the road. We said this is where we're going to be. They went back. They slept for the night. I I went out. I worked [inaudible 00:38:12] we didn't find anything. We're at Casa Bonita the night before. We found about three people that day. So, I took some volunteers. We went out for two and a half hours last night. We cleared the land completely. We made it to where people would show up. At 8:00 a.m. today, Navy SEAL, game warden, myself, a 28-year-old who just has a passion for my city and helping us recover, went there. 150 people with us. We told them, I'm just Courtney Calhoun, but say you're with the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department, they will let you through.
(38:47)
We got authorized to have, we already had an excavator out there, a 336 excavator. We already had probably 15 skids. We had one single excavator that was small.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
We were ready to go. We were working hard. We had a plan. I had 1/4 of a mile of machinery that I was authorized from Hunt Police, Hunt Fire, Ingram Police, Ingram Fire, escort front and back, half a mile all the way through to City West Church to this area between Casa Bonita and Camp Mystic. We have this crew coming in across the road from us. We're overlooking it. It's a 60 foot drop, y'all. It's completely flat. The debris is at maybe like a 60° angle. You can walk it, but it's hollow and it's ready to be fallen through. And we had it ready. We were working on it properly.
(39:46)
They show up, this this crew out of nowhere, with bigger excavators, triple them in. I'm not going to say what they said. They said to a very well-known Navy SEALs, " Get the f off of this land." And I know nothing. I don't know politics. I don't have access to what's going on. I've been working 15-hour shifts. I was up until 6:00 in the morning the other day sending people that were coming to Walmart saying, "Hey, I'm official personnel certified search and rescue. They sent us to Highway 39. I'm assuming there's a shelter out there for us that we can go to. We'll all bunker down. We'll get a sign." And I said, " Who's your point of contact?" He said, "I was sent out here. Who is my point of contact?" And I said, "Well, you can go to Fire XYZ." 6:00 in the morning, y'all. He couldn't go. I helped him coordinate. He got a place to bunker.
(40:38)
But long story short, these people show up. They tell us to leave. They say, "Hey, we're going to work the water. Y'all work up." We start working that hill. 30 minutes later, "Hey, no, y'all are going to work half that hill." Okay. "Yes, sir." Five minutes later, "Get the f off of this hill." We had, at that time, probably 200 volunteers, certified Navy SEAL veterans, and they said, " Where are we going?" We had all that equipment. It was sitting there. Where are we going? They had taken the whole stretch and they said, "Get out of here, all of you."
(41:12)
I sat there for an hour and a half with these people looking up to me saying, "What do we do? What is it? 100° today? No breeze. Half of them are locals who are like me. They can handle y'all. It's the Hill Country. We grew up shooting pistols and using chainsaws when we were two. We know this stuff. What are we doing? This is our home. What are we doing? We'll go to support Center Point. It needs it. We'll go here. We'll go there. We completely disbanded, but we want to go back out. We're here. They've traveled. Some people have traveled by plane. Some people have traveled 8 hours. They're here.
(41:12)
And as a local, I can tell you something. We love the help. We love the help. We want the help. But we also want to work alongside you. We are very capable. We're not wasted assets. We don't want people coming in getting paid to knock down our buildings that we will knock down as a community with people who've been leading and part of construction for a 100 years. We'll do it for free. That's our blood. We would like it. We'll work with you, but we don't need people to be paid to do that.
Greg Abbott (41:12):
Well, so if I could say this.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yes, sir. I'd like to say my question.
Greg Abbott (41:12):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
My question is, we're all very broken here, but what's keeping us Hunt strong is we are the backbone of this community. We appreciate everything you've done. We're the backbone of this community and we just want to have justice, to have a control over the fact that pitch black, y'all. You're in the middle of nowhere. No Wi-Fi. I'm sorry to go on. No Wi-Fi, no resources. It's camp. You don't have cell service. Pitch black. And we had no control. And part of our healing, part of our recovery is to stay strong and get that control. And with your help, we really really want it. We appreciate y'all. But can we establish someone?
Greg Abbott (41:12):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
It could be me. It could be anyone.
Greg Abbott (43:29):
I'm going to connect you with someone. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Someone in control who can facilitate and speak for the people who isn't in politics, who isn't law enforcement, and you know, just someone to say, "Hey, look, I'm going to represent these people, please. And we're going to work side by side. We're all trying to get these bodies. We love this community. We can do it together.
Greg Abbott (43:46):
I got the person for you. I'm going to give you her name, her number, let you connect with her. But let me say this.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Yes, sir.
Greg Abbott (43:53):
You know, people talk about how strong Texas is.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Sorry [inaudible 00:43:56]
Greg Abbott (43:56):
People talk about how strong Texas is.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yes, sir.
Greg Abbott (43:59):
It's because of people like you. People who don't wait around-
Speaker 1 (44:05):
All of us, sir.
Greg Abbott (44:05):
… for orders and instructions. Yeah. I started like not just you, but like you. We saw the exact same response in Hurricane Harvey.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Yes, sir.
Greg Abbott (44:11):
People didn't wait for a boss to tell them what to do. There was no time clock to check in or check out. They said they're getting out their own canoe, their own kayak, and they're going to start helping neighbors before the sun rose up until after the sun set.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yes, sir.
Greg Abbott (44:24):
But all I wanted to let you know is the spirit that lies within your heart. And you use the word blood, in your bloodstream. You have in your blood what Texas is all about. And I can't thank you enough for all that you're doing.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
I need a [inaudible 00:44:45] because her house was… Come here. Her house was emptied. It's still there. She's been through a lot, sir. And everyone in this community has. [inaudible 00:45:08] We experienced death years back. She's my godmother, her son died. [inaudible 00:47:22]
Greg Abbott (44:33):
Two more questions.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Quick follow-up. At what point was the state in contact with the county ahead of this flooding here, sir?
Greg Abbott (49:12):
Nim could best answer that. Nim, when-
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Chief Kidd. Chief Kidd, we know that resources where deployed ahead of the flooding. At what point was the state in contact with Kerr County?
Cheif Nim Kidd (49:26):
Wednesday and Thursday, before the Friday morning.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
So, why was evacuation [inaudible 00:49:30] listed?
Cheif Nim Kidd (49:30):
I can't answer the whys. I'm not going to answer the whys. You asked when we were in contact. We started having calls and messages on Wednesday from an area of I35 out I10 all the way to where it touches I20, all the way back over to where I20 touches I35 again. That is a large chunk of Texas that was anywhere in the potential area of where this kind of rain could have fallen. It picked this spot right here.
Greg Abbott (49:51):
All right, one more question.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Can you tell us the nature of this [inaudible 00:49:52] sir?
Greg Abbott (49:57):
Go ahead.
Speaker 8 (49:57):
We heard [inaudible 00:49:58]
Greg Abbott (49:57):
Yeah. And so I just heard that moments ago. The man who's in charge of that assistance is Chief Nim Kidd. She wants to know how long does it take to get assistance?
Cheif Nim Kidd (50:06):
How long does it take to get assistance?
Speaker 8 (50:08):
[inaudible 00:50:08] that FEMA takes a while but we need help right now.
Cheif Nim Kidd (50:12):
So the disaster recovery centers will be published in the morning of those locations. They can go to those locations and start getting aid. There are plenty of volunteers that are out there ready to offer aid right now in addition to the federal assistance.
Greg Abbott (50:23):
But you're saying that those centers will be open tomorrow morning.
Cheif Nim Kidd (50:24):
Yes sir.
Greg Abbott (50:25):
Where?
Cheif Nim Kidd (50:26):
We have the addresses. I need to confirm them and then we'll put them out. They will be publicized.
Speaker 8 (50:28):
[inaudible 00:50:30]
Cheif Nim Kidd (50:30):
They will be publicized. Yes, ma'am.
Greg Abbott (50:31):
Thank you all.
Speaker 9 (50:32):
Thanks everyone.
Speaker 10 (50:34):
Right now they're leaving. They're walking away.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
Okay.