Ken Pagurek, a longtime Philadelphia firefighter who served as chief of FEMA’s search and rescue branch for the past year, was well-versed in major disaster response.

At several points during the hearing, the state emergency management chief directed attention to the role of local emergency managers in disaster response.

At a joint hearing of special legislative committees probing the deadly Hill Country floods, the state’s emergency management chief said there are no guarantees that local officials are awake when a disaster strikes.

Response to the Hill Country floods is the top priority for a special session of the Texas Legislature. Lawmakers have already filed more than a dozen bills.

The flash floods that killed at least 135 people in Texas' Hill Country was the main topic during the opening of a special legislative session in the state on Monday.

Dozens of parents gathered outside the White House July 21. They brough 27 camp trunks, each one honoring a child's life lost from the flooding.

Texans affected by the July storms and flooding can replace lost or damaged vital documents through various means. Insurance information can be retrieved from insurers, while vital records are available from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

FEMA’s maps are essential tools for identifying flood risks, but they have significant gaps that limit their effectiveness.