KERRVILLE — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly at a hearing Thursday for being absent on July 4 as rising flood waters tore through the county, washing away homes and killing more than 100 people.

“I don’t know where you were on Day One, on July 4, but you should have been here. You should have been here directing that response. That is your responsibility,” Patrick, a Republican who presides over the state Senate, told Kelly at the flood-focused hearing.

“I just want to set the record straight. Everyone was here that day working their ass off, and you were nowhere to be found.”

Kelly, who appeared on a panel of local officials, testified that when the flooding began, he was at his home on Lake Travis preparing for a family gathering.

On July 4, Kelly said he woke

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