Background on past efforts to get a warning system in place. It seems to me that a regional warning system for the Hill Country makes a whole lot of sense so that the cost burden can be shared among various jurisdictions and the state, with the latter covering a substantial chunk of the tab, because the state is fucking loaded. As we all know, people from all over the state visit the area, and they may be at even greater risk than most permanent residents, since visitors are more likely to be in the lower-lying, flood-prone river valleys.
Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System
Kerr County had discussed buying such things as water gauges and sirens after previous flood disasters. But as with many rural Texas counties, cost was an issue.
Eight years ago, in the aftermath of yet another river flood in the Texas Hill Country, officials in Kerr County debated whether more needed to be done to build a warning system along the banks of the Guadalupe River.
A series of summer camps along the river were often packed with children. For years, local officials kept them safe with a word-of-mouth system: When floodwaters started raging, upriver camp leaders warned those downriver of the water surge coming their way.
But was that enough? Officials considered supplementing the system with sirens and river gauges, along with other modern communications tools. βWe can do all the water-level monitoring we want, but if we donβt get that information to the public in a timely way, then this whole thing is not worth it,β said Tom Moser, a Kerr County commissioner at the time.
In the end, little was done. When catastrophic floodwaters surged through Kerr County last week, there were no sirens or early flooding monitors. Instead, there were text alerts that came late for some residents and were dismissed or unseen by others.
The rural county of a little over 50,000 people, in a part of Texas known as Flash Flood Alley, contemplated installing a flood warning system in 2017, but it was rejected as too expensive. The county, which has an annual budget of around $67 million, lost out on a bid at the time to secure a $1 million grant to fund the project, county commission meeting minutes show.
As recently as a May budget meeting, county commissioners were discussing a flood warning system being developed by a regional agency as something that they might be able to make use of.
But in a recent interview, Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, said that local residents had been resistant to new spending. βTaxpayers wonβt pay for it,β he said, adding that he didnβt know if people might reconsider now.