DAVE RESS Richmond Times-Dispatch

It was an emotionally overwhelming Fourth of July for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin as floodwaters roared down the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country.

Family and friends were vacationing there last Friday, and while they are now safe, “I have to say there were moments when they weren’t,” Youngkin told reporters Tuesday, after speaking at an event at 84 Lumber in Chesterfield County.

Youngkin recalled that he hastened down to the little community of Hunt, Texas, after his morning speech July 4 at a naturalization ceremony at Fort Monroe, by the Chesapeake Bay.

By then, his family and friends were safe but still isolated by the floodwaters.

Texas authorities “offered to go get them immediately, and I said, 'No, I’ve talked to them. My family is safe. Please go rescue these young campers, and when everyone else has been attended to, like other people that are safe but stranded, we’ll be with my family,'” Youngkin told reporters after the event at which he set new, higher goals for his regulatory reform campaign.

“That evening, the swift water rescue crews and the Texas National Guard were able to go in and get my family,” Youngkin said. “I went with them and was just grateful, incredibly grateful, that they were able to do that.”

The catastrophic flash flooding in Texas left more than 100 people dead.

Youngkin, and especially his wife Suzanne and her family, have a deep, decadeslong connection with that part of the Texas Hill Country. They are members of a limited liability company that owns a 745-plus-acre ranch there, Kerr County land records show. On his statement of economic interest forms, Youngkin reports this holding as two businesses that each generate less than $50,000 a year in revenue.

“These people are family to us, deep relationships, and therefore what happened in the wee hours of the morning on Friday has been devastating. The loss of life is just shocking,” Youngkin said.

He noted that he’s been involved with the area for 30 years, while his wife has been connected there for more than 50 years, and her family for more than 80 years.

“These are young girls and young men, brothers and sisters and sons and daughters, parents, grandparents, and it is really emotionally overwhelming. I have to say my family was there along with friends, and by the grace of God, my family was safe,” Youngkin said.

Youngkin announced Sunday night that Virginia had dispatched swift water rescue teams from Bristol and Virginia Beach to aid rescue efforts. He has asked Virginians to consider anything they can do to help.

Search and rescue operations are continuing along the Guadalupe River, where several summer camps, campgrounds and vacation cabins are located. At least 109 people, including 27 girls and counselors at Camp Mystic, have perished.

Youngkin had started his remarks about regulatory reform Tuesday by asking a group of about 100 state officials and business leaders to pause in prayer for the victims, families and first responders in Texas.

The event marked Virginia’s success in cutting state regulations by Youngkin’s goal of 25% and included his setting of a new goal of 35% by the end of the year.

He said some 89,000 of Virginia’s more than 340,000 regulations have been cut, streamlined or combined. In addition, the effort has removed some 11.5 million words from guidance documents, making them easier to use while a new dashboard allows people to track how their applications for state permits are faring.

“That translates into the $1.2 billion in economic savings," he said. "It’s money that’s in people’s pockets."

The Virginia Housing and Community Development Department, Virginia Department of Transportation and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which has cut permit processing time by nearly two-thirds, account for the bulk of the reduction in regulations, he said.

“When I was on the campaign trail … I heard over and over and over again, ‘We’d like to, but we can’t.’ We were told this, which doesn’t make sense: ‘We, in fact, would like to expand here, but it’s hard. We would like to get this permit done in a reasonable period of time, and we can’t,’” he recounted.

“And I have to say that when I made a promise that we were going to reduce the regulatory burdens on businesses in Virginia by 25%, I didn’t know how we were going to do it, but I knew we could,” he said.

Going forward, Youngkin said he expects to hit his new 35% goal in part with a new program of applying artificial intelligence tools to the continuing review of regulations — which has also found some regulations need to stay in place.

“We should be able to go a lot faster,” Youngkin said. “We should move at the pace of business, not at the pace of government.”