Lt. Gov. Patrick criticizes Kerr County judge’s absence during flood aftermath

Local officials involved in Kerr County’s deadly July 4 flood response testified before lawmakers Thursday, as state leaders examined decision-making and operations during the disaster.

During the hearing, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sharply questioned the absence of Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly on the critical first day of response.

“Judge Kelly, I never saw you on day one,” Patrick said. “In this room, I talked to the sheriff multiple times. I talked to the mayor multiple times. We had a meeting when we got here. Everyone was here, and you were not.”

As county judge, Kelly serves as the county’s top elected official and head of emergency management, responsible for directing disaster response efforts.

Patrick said Kelly was not present at a multi-agency press conference the night of July 4, when officials were working to account for those affected by the flooding.

“We had accounted for every camp except Mystic. You weren’t in that meeting. I don’t know where you were on July 4, but you should have been here,” Patrick said. “That’s your responsibility.”

KELLY DESCRIBES TIMELINE

In his testimony, Kelly said he was at a vacation home in Lake Travis the morning of the flood and did not wake until about 5 a.m., after receiving calls and texts from local and state officials.

“We received no alerts suggesting an extreme weather event was imminent,” Kelly said in his testimony on Thursday.

Kelly appeared at an initial press conference at 11 a.m. on July 4 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, where he said the response was being led locally and at the state level and that he had been advised not to release numbers of the dead or missing.

During that briefing, Kelly also referenced damage to his own property along Texas Highway 39 in Ingram.

"I'm happy to say that the water did not get in the house. It got into my office and outbuildings," he said. “When you look out your front door and you see the Guadalupe River running, it’ll wake you up. Let me tell you."

He also said at the time that he could not confirm whether all youth summer camps along the Guadalupe River had been accounted for.

When asked how parents could determine the status of their children, Kelly said, “call the camp.”

Kelly appeared again at a 2 p.m. press conference July 4 but was not seen publicly until the afternoon of July 5.

PATRICK PRESSES KELLY

Patrick emphasized the urgency and chaos of the first day, when officials were working to locate missing individuals and coordinate emergency efforts.

“This is about as bad a day as you can have because we didn’t just lose people, we didn’t know where people were," Patrick said. "Everyone was here that day working their ass off, and you were nowhere to be found,”

The July 4 flooding of the Guadalupe River killed 108 people in Kerr County, including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic in Hunt.

This article was originally published in the Aug. 2, 2025 edition of the Kerrville Daily Times.