We’ve all been watching the devastation from the floods that tore through Central Texas starting on Independence Day that have left 134 dead and 101 people missing. But today, we wanted to talk to one of the journalists who’s been overseeing the coverage to get a better sense of what’s really going on with Texans and their communities.
Keya Vakil is the Vice President of Political Content for COURIER Newsroom. He talked with us about Courier Texas’ ongoing reporting, which includes political coverage, as well as practical — and accurate — information people can use, like “How to file flood damage with basic homeowners, renters insurance.” And that’s especially important with the amount of misinformation seeping through social media.
“We also really pride ourselves on service journalism, which is helping people get information they need or access resources they might not know about,” Keya tells Lincoln Square Editor Susan J. Demas.
Courier Texas has been reporting on the Trump administration’s response — or lack thereof — to the flooding amid huge cuts to FEMA and how that’s made a terrible tragedy even worse.
“There's a total lack of transparency and there's a utter disinterest in … expanding the government response and trying to figure out what went wrong so that it doesn't go wrong again,” Keya says. “Every other day, we're seeing the New York Times or the Texas Tribune or a bunch of other great outlets break a story of something along the chain that broke and didn't function, whether it's the FEMA call centers, whether it's …. local officials not sending alerts early enough. This is an area with not great Wi-Fi and service, so it's trickier. …
“But at the end of the day, it's a lot of just blame-shifting and finger-pointing. When it's all Republicans in power, the finger-pointing tends to just go in a mythical direction of there's nothing to do — like it's just the nature of the world. And yes, it rains; it floods — that does happen. But climate change is real.”
You can read more of Courier Texas’ reporting on the flooding here.
Death on a Texas River
A portion of Texas, already known as “Flash Flood Alley” suffered a devastating flood on July 4 with tragic consequences. The search for survivors is ongoing, but more than 120 are already confirmed dead. At least 160 are still missing. The largest loss of life happened in Kerr County. There some 90 people died including
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