This is an opinion column.

They want to know, I truly believe. They are hurting, still gripped with agonizing pain and unimaginable grief. Yet they want to know.

They want to know what, why and who. Those who loved the victims and the missing from the calamitous flooding of the Guadalupe River in central Texas want to know what happened, why it happened and who should be held accountable.

Yes, they understand that the July 4 tragedy was a once-in-a-thousand-years event that no one could have predicted with 100% accuracy. And yet, they want to know.

And they deserve to know.

They want to know if more could’ve been done to prepare those within proximity of an area known to be a flood zone; if more could have been done sooner to warn and evacuate those in danger; if more could have been done to save lives.

If more should’ve been done.

And they deserve to know.

It does not dishonor the more than 130 lives lost thus far, including 8-year-old Sarah Marsh of Mountain Brook, who was at Camp Mystic, the Christian retreat in Kerr County. Including Eddie Santana, Sr. and daughter-in-law Camille, whose remains have been found. Santana’s wife, Ileana Santana, and 6-year-old granddaughter, Mila Rose Santana, remain among the 160 victims still missing. Son Eddie Santana Jr. survived.

It does not diminish the abundance of life swept away — to ask what, why and who should be held accountable.

It is not too soon to ask.

Not too soon for answers.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott should have had one. A decent one. One befitting of a true leader. He could have simply said, “I don’t yet know,” or some such last week when a reporter asked, rightly so, if there would be an investigation into what, why and who. He could have said, “It’s too soon to know.”

This is what he should have said: “Of course. The families of our victims, all Texans and all Americans deserve to know what happened, why and who should be held accountable — and what we must do to ensure that we and future generations are better prepared and that lives are saved should such an unfathomable disaster happen again. Here or anywhere.”

Or some such.

He did not, as we heard. Bafflingly heard. Instead, Abbott tilted into a bizarre tirade about football. Yes, football.

“[Blame] is the word choice of losers. Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who is to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say, ‘Don’t worry about it, man. We got this. We’re going to make sure that we go score again and then we’re going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions.”

Sorry, Gov., there were no winners in central Texas, and certainly no championship team.

And no solutions, at least not from his lips.

Abbott and officials from the state and Kerr County (where most of the deaths occurred) still have not explained why …

· … almost a decade ago, the state reportedly denied the county’s request for a $731,413 grant to help fund upgrades to its flood warning system, according to USA Today.

· … three years ago, the county did not upgrade its outdated and ill-prepared disaster-related infrastructure with the $10.2 million it received from Congress under the American Rescue Plan Act. Instead, it invested in a radio communications system for the sheriff’s department and county fire services, provided stipends and raises to sheriff’s employees, hired more county personnel, and built a new walking path, as reported by Texas Monthly.

· Nor have they answered myriad other questions seeking answers and solutions.

Nationally, neither Donald (nothing’s ever my fault) Trump nor his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, has offered much of either. Particularly, they’ve not owned up to the possible impact of their decisions on the flood’s consequences.

Remember DOGE the chainsaw? About 600 jobs at the National Weather Service have been slashed since Trump took office. While experts say storm forecasting was not adversely impacted by the cuts, two top-level vacancies — particularly the warning coordination meteorologist — in the Austin/San Antonio office may have stymied prompt communication with local authorities. “It appears that is one of the biggest contributors — that last mile,” Wisconsin meteorologist Chris Vagasky told NBC News.

A month ago, Politico reported that FEMA and other federal agencies — the kind, like insurance, you don’t think you need until you need them — were “set up for failure by the cuts.

In six months at the helm of FEMA (which her boss famously said he wanted to “eliminate”), Noem instituted changes that earned a hard look after the tragedy. For instance, she called for any contract of at least $100,000 to require her signature.

In the hellish moments following a natural disaster, who has time to find a pen?

On the evening of July 5, the day after the river began to rage, Noem didn’t renew the contracts of four call-center contractors, according to The New York Times. Earlier that day, the agency answered almost all of the 3,027 desperate calls for aid it received from victims, according to documents obtained by the Times. The following day, however, FEMA answered only about one-third of the calls (846 of 2,363).

The number you are trying to reach is not in service.

On July 7, the agency answered just 16 percent of the rings (2,613 of 16,419).

Please try again … Good-bye.

By any description, those were, yes, fumbles, potentially life-changing turnovers.

Yet like Abbott, Noem gamified her response, saying critics of the agency were “playing politics.” (She also renewed the call-center contracts.)

Answers are coming slowly. Many will be argued, debated and some even denied — which is what losers do.

We should know this: Decisions have consequences. Decisions on where to invest in preparedness (or not to); decisions to disparage, dismantle and diminish an agency whose sole purpose is to care have consequences.

Sometimes deadly consequences.

They want to know, and everyone deserves to know the what, the why and the who — to, yes, ensure that we and future generations are better prepared and that lives are saved should such an unfathomable disaster happen again. Here or anywhere.

And it’s not too early to ask.

Let’s be better tomorrow than we are today. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.