Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning. The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (VET) recently returned to the Bryan-College Station campus after a 23-day deployment to the Hill Country to treat dozens of rescue dogs that worked to locate missing people.

Kerr County emergency chief William “Dub” Thomas defended his response to the Texas floods that killed more than 130 people, saying he mobilized despite being off duty and ill. He said supervisors knew of his personal time and that he skipped a cellphone alert because the National Weather Service had already issued one.

For the first time since catastrophic flooding killed more than 100 people in Kerr County, Texas, the county emergency management director conceded that he was sick and asleep as the water rose to historic levels on the Guadalupe River.

Texas lawmakers invited Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr., and City Manager Dalton Rice to testify at the hearing Thursday.

State lawmakers are in the Hill Country community most impacted by the July 4 flooding gathering testimony for legislation to address disaster preparedness and response efforts.

Local leaders in central Texas are facing more tough questions Thursday as state lawmakers – and survivors – again press for information about the responses to July 4 flash flooding that killed at least 136 people.