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The San Antonio-based Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC), which coordinates the EMS and hospital response to mass casualty events for a 22-county area, including Kerr County, reported this week that its emergency response to the July 4 floods grew to 130 units, including 61 ambulances.
"We've had over 6,600 patient encounters and 182 patients that have been treated and 109 of those were transported to a hospital somewhere," said Eric Epley, the CEO of STRAC.
Epley said those figures are only for STRAC, a state coordination office for the Texas emergency medical task force, and seven other regional members.
A ninth component oversees the entire statewide task force. Created and funded by the Texas Legislature, the task force has existed since 2010.
He said local EMS transports are not included in the figures, and it's a summary total for the task force since the Fourth of July.
Epley, who oversaw STRAC's response to the COVID-19 pandemic — including medical transports and balancing hospital populations to avoid overcrowding and monitoring ventilator availability — said what happened in the Texas Hill Country, including the Guadalupe River in Kerr County and downstream, was worse than a well-known hurricane in 2017.
"Sadly, it's just been one of the more horrific jobs we've ever been involved in, with the fatality count now exceeding Hurricane Harvey, which was a [Category] 5 hurricane — one of the largest that ever hit Texas," he explained.
Harvey claimed 107 lives. There have been at least 131 flood deaths in Texas, with at least 106 in Kerr County.
He said injuries continue to come in during current search and recovery efforts, which includes dangerous debris removal. Hundreds of emergency workers and 12,000 volunteers remain on the ground.
He said two mobile medical units, each including two doctors, two nurses, and two paramedics, are positioned at both ends of the region that saw the Guadalupe River flooding — one in Kerrville and one at Canyon Lake, west of New Braunfels.
He said the injuries include bumps and bruises and the occasional tetanus shot when someone gets a cut.
