A devastating flash flood in Kerr County, Texas, claimed over 100 lives on July 4, and now a former county official is pointing fingers at current leadership for a catastrophic delay in emergency alerts. John David Trolinger, who once served as the county’s IT director, is demanding accountability for what he calls a preventable tragedy.
According to NewsNation, Trolinger, who retired in 2019 after 15 years in the role, helped implement the emergency alert system meant to warn residents of such disasters. He labels the delayed notifications during the flood as “incompetence” and a stark “leadership failure.”
The evidence is damning: dispatch audio and FEMA data, as uncovered by KXAN Investigators, reveal that county officials waited hours after a National Weather Service warning at 1:14 a.m. to send alerts, with more targeted notifications delayed for days. Trolinger’s frustration boils over as he insists, “I don’t see anything that the county needs to do differently other than get a new sheriff and a new emergency manager.”
On July 3, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County, a signal Trolinger says should have prompted immediate action from Emergency Management Coordinator W.B. “Dub” Thomas. He argues Thomas failed to prepare county officials and dispatchers for the looming threat.
By 1:14 a.m. on July 4, the warning escalated to a flash flood alert, yet hours passed with no action, even as the Guadalupe River swelled dangerously. At 4:22 a.m., a volunteer firefighter’s desperate plea over dispatch audio to “send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents” was met with a bureaucratic stall: “We have to get that approved with our supervisor.”
The CodeRED system, which Trolinger helped establish, connects to FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, capable of notifying all phones in a targeted area. Yet, as he notes, it requires manual activation, a step he believes Thomas neglected in those critical hours.
Trolinger’s criticism zeroes in on Thomas, who has served as emergency manager since 2015, accusing him of shirking his duty to monitor warnings and mobilize alerts. He bluntly states, “It’s [Thomas’] responsibility to get the messages from the state and weather service and prepare everyone.”
Adding to the frustration, county officials have dodged direct questions, with Thomas himself redirecting inquiries and stating, “We will not be responding to your email below or future messages.” Such stonewalling, Trolinger warns, is par for the course, predicting that the public will be “made to feel guilty just for asking for the information.”
Sheriff Larry Leitha, when pressed on the alert timeline during a press conference, offered little clarity, saying, “Please understand that… We’re not going to hide from everything, that’s going to be checked into at a later time.” This sidestepping hardly inspires confidence in a community reeling from loss.
The alert system itself isn’t the issue, Trolinger argues, pointing to its successful use in past years and Thomas’ own familiarity with it, as evidenced by a 2020 county commissioners meeting where Thomas discussed integrating CodeRED with IPAWS. If the tools were there, why the breakdown when lives hung in the balance?
He suggests the real loss is “institutional memory” of the river’s deadly potential, a knowledge gap among current leaders despite historic flooding risks in Kerr County. Thomas even acknowledged this danger in 2020, admitting the need for better warning systems while pushing for upgrades.
Yet, when the river surged on July 4, that awareness seemed absent, leaving residents unprepared as water rushed through. Trolinger’s exasperation is palpable as he insists leadership must bear the blame for failing to educate and protect the public.
In the aftermath, a joint information center set up by local agencies claims a “complete review of the incident” is underway, though they’ve declined to address Trolinger’s pointed critiques directly. Such responses feel like a dodge to a community demanding answers for a disaster that stole so many lives.
Trolinger’s solution cuts to the bone: replace those who faltered, from the sheriff to the emergency manager, with leaders who grasp the stakes and act decisively. He envisions officials who can warn residents well before disaster strikes, ensuring they’re safely out of harm’s way.
This tragedy in Kerr County isn’t just a natural disaster; it’s a glaring signal that systems, no matter how robust, are only as good as the people running them. If leadership won’t prioritize swift action over red tape, then perhaps it’s time for fresh faces who will put lives first.
