Getty Images

‘Saccharine cliche’

‘Wiping the slate clean’

@lilbieber

Brandon Drenon
Reporting from Washington DC

A Texas firefighter located upstream of the deadly floods in Kerr County asked if emergency flood alerts could be sent to residents about an hour before the first warnings were received, audio reveals.

In the recording, obtained by US outlets, the firefighter asks at 04:22 on 4 July if a CodeRED alert can be issued. The dispatcher replies that a supervisor needs to approve the request.

Residents didn’t begin receiving the alert until an hour later – for some it took up to six hours, according to reports.

In the recording of the firefighter’s dispatch call, the emergency responder can be heard saying: “The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39.

“Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”

“Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” the dispatcher replied.

Local officials are now facing mounting questions over when Kerrville’s residents were notified about deadly flash floods that killed 96 in Kerr County alone, with over 160 others still missing.

Asked about a possible police radio failure at a press conference on Thursday – almost a week after 4 July flooding – Kerrville Police community services officer Jonathan Lamb said, “I don’t have any information to that point.”

The questioning followed a tense exchange the day before when reporters asked officials repeatedly about a possible lag in emergency communications.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha earlier this week declined to offer specifics about timing, saying that officials were instead focused on rescue and recovery efforts.

Leitha said he was first notified around the “four to five area”, and told local media, “we’re in the process of trying to put a timeline” about what exactly happened in the pre-dawn hours.

“That’s going to take a little bit of time,” he told them. “That is not my priority this time.”

Federal immigration agents carried out immigration sweeps at two Southern California cannabis farms on Thursday, prompting a heated standoff between authorities and several hundred protesters at a Ventura County site and reports of a farm worker gravely injured in a fall.

Videos shared on social media showed nearly a dozen agents using less-lethal ammunition on a crowd that had gathered near Glass House Farms, a large, licensed cannabis greenhouse in Camarillo. Meanwhile, 35 miles up the coast in Carpinteria, federal agents entered another Glass House Farms growing site, where a smaller crowd gathered around the perimeter.

The United Farm Workers union said they were told one worker fell several stories from a greenhouse. UFW official Liz Strater said the person was taken from a Ventura County farm by ambulance. Strater said the person suffered catastrophic injuries and is not expected to survive. The worker’s name was not released, and local law enforcement officials could not immediate provide any details.

Eight people with injuries were transported from in and around Camarillo facility Thursday afternoon to local hospitals, according to Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department. He said he did not know the extent of those injuries or their current status. Dowd said an additional four people were treated at the scene for minor injuries and did not need hospital care.

U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli confirmed in a statement on X that federal agents had executed a search warrant at a marijuana farm. He said they arrested several individuals on suspicion of impeding the operation and warned that people who continued to interfere would be arrested and charged with a federal offense.

A spokesperson for the FBI said the agency was investigating a shooting that occurred during the operation in Camarillo. Video captured by ABC7 News appeared to show a protester opening fire at federal immigration agents after smoke canisters were thrown to disperse the crowd.

Ten minors without documentation were found at the farm during the raid, eight of whom were unaccompanied, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement on X. The facility is now under investigation for child labor violations, he said.

Cesar Ortiz, 24, told a Times photographer in Spanish that his brother works at the farm and was detained and being held in a hot container without air conditioning.

“They are taking everyone and the truth is it’s not right because these people come to work, struggle every day, to earn for bread every day,” he said. “It feels like they are against us but there are no narcos here, no one is armed here and they come fully armed, full of military personnel.”

The Ventura County Fire Department was dispatched around 12:15 p.m. to provide medical aid as a result of federal enforcement activity along Laguna Road in Camarillo, according to agency spokesperson Andrew Dowd. Five patients were transported to hospitals for treatment and four were treated on the scene.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the area to assist with traffic control but were not involved in any way with the federal operation, he said. Dowd also noted that the Fire Department has no connection with any federal immigration enforcement actions and will never ask for a patient’s immigration status.

“There’s so many family and friends who work here at the Glass House Factory, it’s a huge factory. … We were notified that the people working inside were all being detained, whether they were U.S. citizens or not,” said Angelmarie Taylor, who is with the 805 Immigration Coalition, a volunteer organization that tracks immigration activity by federal agents.

About 500 people gathered near the farm to protest during the day, according to Taylor. As of around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, about 200 protesters remained at the site where around 40 troops, some holding shields, and agents made a stand.

Marc Cohodes, an investor and famed short-seller who has invested in Glass House, called the raid “beyond outrageous.”

“The government is aware of cartels, illicit crime, the whole thing and yet, and yet, they decide to spend their resources going after a total legal company that pays the state of California hundreds of millions of dollars excise tax,” he said.

He added that Glass House is “the largest cannabis cultivator in the world” and “a highly regulated business fully licensed by the state of California,” with a site in Ventura County and another in Santa Barbara County. “It’s run by a guy named Kyle Kazan, who is an ex-cop who plays by the rules and does things by the book.” Kazan, he added, is also a supporter of President Trump.

Ortiz, whose brother was detained Thursday, said he had a message for Trump: “We all have a right to come here and work. Here, we all have a dream, we have to give it our all.”

Farther north in Carpinteria, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) attempted to enter the marijuana farm after hearing reports of an immigration operation but was not let past the masked federal agents agents who formed a perimeter along the road about 75 yards from the raid.

“It was disproportionate, overkill,” Carbajal said. “These tactics are creating an incendiary, hostile environment the way they are being deployed, which could lead to, regrettably, violence in the future.”

He identified himself as a Congress member conducting oversight but said he was told to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was turned away. A crowd had gathered around the perimeter, but he said they dispersed after agents wrapped up and boarded a military-style vehicle.

Aerial views of the scene in Camarillo taken by news helicopters showed dozens of workers sitting in the shade alongside a warehouse, with federal agents standing guard.

Protesters blocked the roads in and out, and at one point federal agents drove their vehicles through the fields. Multiple ambulances had gone in and out of the facility, Taylor said.

Sarah Armstrong, outreach chair with Americans for Safe Access, said it appeared that Homeland Security and the U.S. National Guard were at the location firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the Camarillo protesters.

Lucas Zucker, co-executive director of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, or CAUSE, said Thursday that the organization had staffers on the ground after reports of a raid at Glass House, but he asked them to leave once federal agents started deploying tear gas.

The vast area is largely remote farmland, Zucker said, and the use of rubber bullets and tear gas on a small crowd was “pretty unusual.”

“I don’t think there’s any credible case that they were under threat,” he said, describing the scene as “a small crowd of community members … in pretty remote agricultural areas.”

He added that Glass House had been targeted by immigration authorities in the past couple of months, including when federal agents began conducting workplace raids in the region in June. Numerous videos on social media showed agents chasing after farmworkers and making mass arrests at farms.

Glass House Farms said in a post on X that the company was “visited today by ICE officials” and “fully complied with agent search warrants.” The statement said nothing else, except to add that the company would “provide further updates if necessary.”

Zucker said Ventura County saw a drop in worksite raids after an intense week in June, when community members mobilized to the fields and began patrolling farmlands. For the last few weeks, he said, they’ve received reports of raids in more suburban areas, including Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. This raid represented the first major workplace raid in the region since then.

In a social media post, Oxnard Mayor Luis McArthur said he was “in communication with emergency services to ensure that safety personnel are on standby and ready to provide immediate assistance if necessary.”

“While this matter is taking place outside the jurisdiction of Oxnard, I am increasingly mindful that many of the facility’s employees are likely from Oxnard and are seeking refuge in their vehicles amid the high temperatures, raising concerns about the safety and well-being of those individuals,” he said.

He then commented on the broader strategy apparent from the raids across the Southland.

“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the actions taken by ICE are bold and aggressive, demonstrating insensitivity toward the direct impact on our community. These actions are causing unnecessary distress and harm. I remain committed to working alongside our Attorney General and the Governor’s office to explore potential legal avenues to address these activities.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, criticized the protests.

“What happened in California is just another example of protesters becoming criminals, and they’ve been emboldened by even members of Congress who compare ICE to Nazis and racists and terrorists,” Homan told Fox News.

Freelance photographer Julie Leopo and staff writer Grace Toohey contributed to this report.