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By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -The mayor of a Texas city at the center of flash flooding that killed over 130 people earlier this month asked state lawmakers on Thursday to help get a warning system in place within a year.
Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring told a joint Senate-House committee that met in his town northwest of San Antonio that he wanted a flood warning system to be designed and installed by next summer.
“We need solutions in place that protect the public and save lives,” Herring said. “We will need your help to achieve this goal.”
The flooding was on the agenda of a special legislative session Texas Governor Greg Abbott called. The flooding sent a wall of water down the Guadalupe River in the state’s Hill Country early on July 4, washing away camps of children and Fourth of July weekend goers.
After an initial committee meeting on the issue last week in the state capital lawmakers traveled to the flood-hit area to hear from Herring, several other local leaders and local residents on Thursday.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha questioned whether a warning system would have done any good.
“The water came too fast,” Leitha told lawmakers.
Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows said lawmakers would come up with “some solutions” during the special session, which lasts for 30 days, but that the effort would take time.
“Our commitment is to continue beyond this session and these hearings, into the next session and the session after that,” Burrows said.
The high casualty toll ranked as one of the deadliest U.S. flood events in decades, raising questions about the lack of flash-flood warning sirens in hardest-hit Kerr County. Many have expressed concern about vacancies at National Weather Service offices due to staffing cuts under President Donald Trump.
Several residents impacted by the flooding testified before the committee, with many saying they felt abandoned by city, county and state governments.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; editing by Donna Bryson and Sandra Maler)
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