Lawmakers are holding hearings about just that in Austin right now.
The governor has confirmed at least 136 people died and four remain missing from the central Texas floods.
In hearings, the Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management describes chaos.
"You cannot be a medical director, you can't be a public health authority without being a physician. You can't be a county engineer without having an engineering degree, you can't be a peace officer without a license. You can't be a paid firefighter without it," W. Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said. "Now is the time to do that for emergency management as well."
Texas law requires firefighters, police officers, and EMTs to pass tests. But the same isn't required for the coordinators who lead them.
And in some small Texas counties, including ones that are flood prone, emergency managers hold multiple positions or work as volunteers.
"You're dealing with a county that has limited resources and a fairly limited population most of the time and a very large population during the summer that they have to take care of," Ed Emmett said.
Emmett is now a fellow with Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. But, he led Harris County through Hurricane Harvey as county judge.
"We had what were called tabletop exercises on a regular basis, modeling what happens if this occurs," he said.
He and others said, after Harvey, they pushed for emergency operation standards to be raised across the state.
That didn't pass the legislature back then.
"It is going to come down to people. Even if you have warning sirens, somebody's got to set those off, so I do think this is a chance for the state to get a little bit more involved," he said. "Is the time to do it during a 30-day special session? No. I do think this has to carry on to the regular session."
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