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San Antonio, Texas: I’m heading home to Washington after visiting the flood-ravaged Texas Hill Country. Like the wildfires that tore through Los Angeles in January, it’s a form of devastation Australians are familiar with – but on a horrific scale.

People search along the Guadalupe River after flooding in Kerrville, Texas, on Wednesday.Credit: AP

Every briefing from officials brings worse news, the death toll climbing past 110 and the number of missing people rocketing to 173. By the time you read this, I’m sure it will be higher.

Why did so many die? Plainly, there will need to be inquiries into how it was that people, knowing storms were coming, still felt safe enough to stay by the river that night. It seems clear that despite issuing alerts, authorities did not know the severity of the deluge that was about to strike.

Timing was crucial. This was the Fourth of July holiday weekend, meaning the river banks were packed with summer campers, holidaymakers and permanent residents. The flood arrived supremely fast in the middle of the night, with the water rising some........

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