More scattered showers, storms possible through Wednesday across North Texas
In addition, the cloud cover has kept temperatures at or below the average high this month, which is 94 degrees.
More rain and cooler-than-average temperatures will be expected across North Texas Sunday. Scattered showers and storms will linger through the afternoon but will dissipate during the evening, due to a lack of solar radiation.
Around 1" to 3" of rain accumulation will be possible for those along and to the south of I-20 and to the west of I-35. Localized heavier totals up to 6" will be possible in some spots; hence, a Flood Watch is in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday.
Since there is a plethora of tropical moisture in the atmosphere, a few diurnally driven storms are possible Monday through Wednesday. Storms don't look to be as widespread in coverage, but there is still a chance for additional showers. Once again, no severe weather is expected.
High temperatures on Sunday will be dependent on the cloud cover in the metro and to the west, highs are only expected to reach the upper 80s. However, cities to the east of I-35 have a higher chance of seeing more sunshine and temperatures climbing into the 90s.
The cloud cover combined with the rain-cooled air will keep highs in the lower 90s through Wednesday.
However, a ridge of high pressure starts to influence the weather pattern Thursday through the next weekend. This means that it will feel like summer again. Sunshine, highs in the upper 90s, and heat index values in the triple digits will be anticipated.
Enjoy the rain and cooler temperatures while they last.
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Washington Post
32 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?
The deluge that killed nearly 80 people along fast-surging Texas rivers early Friday struck a region that has grappled with deadly floods before. And yet, the magnitude of the disaster exposed gaps in its ability to warn people, including a delayed flood risk alert from Kerr County and stalled development of a flood monitoring system. This swath of Central Texas is the most flash-flood prone region in the country, and officials know the Hill Country's terrain can turn slow, shallow rivers into walls of water. But even as weather forecasts began to hint at the potential for heavy rain on Thursday, the response exposed a disconnect: Few, including local authorities, prepared for anything but their normal Fourth of July. When the precipitation intensified in the early morning hours Friday, many people failed to receive or respond to flood warnings at riverside campsites and cabins that were known to be in the floodplain. A review of wireless emergency and data from a public database that pulls in Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert & Warning System shows that the county did not send its first Amber Alert-style push until Sunday. Days after the state had launched a full-scale rescue effort, continued rains appeared to prompt an alert sent to much of Kerr County urging people to 'move to higher ground' because of 'high confidence of river flooding.' The county has sent such alerts in past emergencies. Up until then, most cellphone alerts were coming from the National Weather Service's Austin/San Antonio station. But some alerts about life-threatening flooding didn't come until the predawn hours, and to areas where cellular reception may have been spotty. The disaster has prompted renewed emphasis on a years-long push for a comprehensive flood monitoring system in Kerr County. And it has raised questions about whether anything could be enough to prepare and protect communities in places like this, where cellphone-based alerts can be unreliable, emergency managers have limited resources and the potential for disaster is high. 'That's the part that hurts,' said Rosalie Castro of Kerrville, Texas. 'We had no warning.' For hours on Friday, the 60-year-old waited for word from her nephew who lived in a trailer home park near the Guadalupe River. The first alert Castro received on her phone came around 7:58 a.m., but her nephew was caught off guard. 'If it wasn't for his dogs barking, he wouldn't have awakened on time,' Castro said. He survived. But his neighbor, Julian Ryan, cut an artery while rushing to save his family. Melinda Cortez had never been to Kerrville before. She, her family, and some good friends rented a few cabins at the HTR campground along the Guadalupe River for the big Fourth of July river festival. After dinner at Howdy's, they sat on the porch, talking and laughing until around midnight. It was lightly raining. At 4:45 a.m., she awoke to another camper banging on the cabin door, yelling to get out, now. Water was everywhere. A minute later, the camp sent a text to guests that 'we have just received notice from the fire department that we need to evacuate the park due to flooding,' according to a message reviewed by The Washington Post. Water from the river, which had been about a football field away from her cabin steps, was up to the porch. A Ford F-150 truck and trailer floated by. Glancing at her phone, she noticed two new alerts: one was a flash-flood warning, the other was from the campground, sent five minutes before the man pounded on their cabin, telling them to evacuate. By then, the water was up to their waist. Cortez, like many people who were in town or visiting that weekend, didn't know the area could flood. There are more than a dozen camps in the Guadalupe River region — and many are adjacent or are partially inside high-risk flood zones, according to maps from FEMA . But Cortez lives in Austin, a few hours away, and didn't know about the risk, or its history. While enjoying the river that day, she had not seen warnings, and 'the camp didn't say anything,' she said. 'I never thought that whole area could flood,' she said. For emergencies and disasters, leaders often use a patchwork of alerts and warnings to try to get to different populations. The National Weather Service, which had been warning about the coming rains and potential for flash floods for days, has stations across the state. Its Austin/San Antonio office sent alerts on social media as well as using wireless emergency alerts, which use cellphone towers to target people in a specific area. Local authorities, including the police, office often post updates to their Facebook pages and websites. Kerrville and the county use a web-based notification system called CodeRED, which people have to sign up for. The holes in this warning system are not new, and highlight the challenge of urgently communicating weather risks as a warming climate drives more atmospheric moisture, which can come down in sudden bursts. And in remote areas, with fewer resources for emergency management operations, the breakdown can be even worse. Kerrville police, the Kerr County sheriff and other official pages did not mention looming weather and its risks on their social media profiles, posting on July 3 about the upcoming Fourth of July river festival. Officials from those agencies, county government and the county judge did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a Friday news conference day, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said he couldn't say why areas including Camp Mystic, where dozens of people died or were still missing, weren't evacuated — they hadn't seen this disaster coming. 'Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming,' Kelly said. 'We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever.' Meteorologists in this region of Texas are acutely aware of the most flood-prone areas in a region that has been known as 'flash flood alley' for decades, said Steven Lyons, who retired four years ago after a decade as the meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service's San Angelo office. When preparing to issue flash-flood warnings in the midst of the storm, lists of dozens of areas in jeopardy would pop up automatically. It's up to the meteorologists to decide which to send, or deselect. Central Texas, specifically Kerr County and the surrounding areas, is made of undulating hills and steep canyons filled with thin, drought-stricken soil and slick limestone. Normally, the rivers and streams run clear, tranquil, and shallow. But when it rains, that topography 'causes the river to roar,' the Upper Guadalupe River Authority explained in a 2017 video warning people of flood risks. The silky, shallow limestone river beds turn the meandering water into massive walls of concrete that hurl downstream in a matter of minutes. While much of the region is rural and remote, there is a heavy concentration of old mobile home parks — many filled with vulnerable residents — along and near the river. Kerrville has been growing steadily, according to an overview of city and county meeting minutes, and new residents may not have the lived experience of how quickly heavy rains can spark a flash flood. Ahead of these floods, the Weather Service office near San Antonio, which oversees warnings issued in Kerr County, had one key vacancy: A warning coordination meteorologist, who is responsible for working with emergency managers and the public to ensure people know what to do when a disaster strikes. The person who served in that role for decades was among hundreds of Weather Service employees who accepted early retirement offers and left the agency at the end of April, local media reported. Lyons said that departure would have had a limited impact on Friday's emergency, however, because this staffer's key work takes place weeks and months ahead of a disaster, ensuring training and communication channels are in place. Pat Vesper, meteorologist-in-charge of the Weather Service's San Antonio/Austin office, declined to answer questions about the vacancy, flood warnings or communications with Kerr County officials. He referred questions to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials, who did not immediately respond to questions. The tragedy in Hill Country was already reigniting debate among meteorologists and social scientists that goes back decades, about how to craft and disseminate warnings in a way that saves lives. 'The real trick is, how do you get people to get the message quickly, a message they can understand easily, and have them take action that will save their lives?' Lyons said. 'People think, 'It can't be that bad; I'll just jump up on my roof,'' Lyons said. 'Well, not if your house is floating away.' The fact that the worst of the flooding hit in the middle of the night only exacerbated the challenge. 'If people had gotten the message before they had gone to sleep, would they have gotten out of there? Maybe,' Lyons said. 'The messaging is critical but so are the actions that people take based on the messaging. We can't tell you how many raindrops are going to fall out of a thunderstorm.' Past floods have spurred the same discussions about how to protect people around Hill Country. About a decade ago, Kerrville leaders began working on a flood warning system, after a river rose to about 45 feet and nearly swallowed the nearby Texas town of Wimberley over Memorial Day Weekend 2015, said Tom Moser, a Kerr County commissioner at the time. County officials assessed an upgrade to a warning system that would have included sirens. But some balked at the cost, with one commissioner calling it 'a little extravagant for Kerr County, with sirens and such.' Then next year, they submitted a grant request for $980,000 to FEMA for the initiatives, county documents show. But they didn't get the money, and 'most of the funds went to communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey,' according to the county's Hazard Mitigation Action Plan. In an interview, Moser said the community took some steps to reduce flood dangers, installing flood gauges and barriers at low river crossings, spots where rural roads pass through what is normally a trickling stream. They also trained emergency management staff and other authorities on what to do in the event of a flood. But despite attempts to fund a larger flood warning system project in the county budget, Moser said, 'It never got across the goal line.' Moser said. The efforts stalled by the time he retired in 2021. But the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which partners with the county, made some progress this past year. They signed an agreement with a consulting firm to assess the county's needs, aiming to develop a monitoring and warning system depending on 'what we can afford,' said director Diane L. McMahon. The investment comes as the deaths in Texas are likely to galvanize a push for similar flood warning systems across the states and the country, Moser said. 'I think there will be a lot of attention paid to it now,' Moser said, adding that he doesn't know if any warning system will be able to protect everyone. But 'it could be a lot better than what we currently have.' Watching the death toll rise, Nicole Wilson wondered what might have happened if campers along the river had the kind of warnings she had growing up in tornado-prone Kentucky: loud, blaring sirens. After rushing to pick up her two daughters from another Central Texas camp, Wilson thought how just minutes could be life changing. She started a petition on Saturday, calling on officials to 'implement a modern outdoor early warning siren system.' 'Sometimes we only had five minutes,' she recalled of her childhood tornado warnings. 'Maybe those girls in the lower cabins would have come outside and seen the water,' she said. 'Maybe they could have grabbed others and ran uphill.' Eva Ruth Moravec and John Muyskens contributed to this report.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
At least 78 dead and dozens missing in Texas floods as more rain looms
At least 78 people have been confirmed dead in central Texas and another 41 are missing following flash floods on Friday. Sixty-eight of the fatalities, including 28 children, occurred in Kerr County, where a riverside Christian girls' camp was deluged. Ten girls and a counsellor from Camp Mystic are still missing. Officials say the death toll is certain to rise. More storms are expected in the next 24-48 hours in the region, which could hamper rescue teams who are already facing venomous snakes as they sift through mud and debris. Three days after the inundation, one of the largest search-and-rescue efforts in recent Texas history was shifting towards a recovery operation. Of those recovered in Kerr County, 18 adults and 10 children have yet to be formally identified. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that authorities would "stop at nothing" to ensure every missing person is found. "It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through," said Abbott, a day after he toured the area. A major focus of the search has been Camp Mystic, a popular summer camp for girls perched on the banks of the Guadalupe River, which suffered significant damage. The catastrophe unfolded before daybreak on Friday as the river rose 26ft (8m) in the span of just 45 minutes while most campers were asleep. Several young campers and the camp's longtime director, Richard "Dick" Eastland, are among the dead. Greg Froelick, a former Navy Seal and volunteer with the rescue group 300 Justice, is helping the effort to find survivors. Speaking to the BBC, he said he had heard of victims being found up to eight miles downriver from where Camp Mystic once stood. He said he has seen "clothing and items from the camp dressers scattered everywhere, up and down the river". There is also uncertainty about how many other people were camping in the area for the Fourth of July weekend - and how many may have been swept away in the floods. A two-lane highway that skirts the Guadalupe River and connects the city of Kerrville to Camp Mystic is a scene of devastation. Ravaged homes are surrounded by fallen trees and furniture on lawns. Fences are toppled and utility lines down in some areas. President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration on Sunday for Kerr County, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Texas. He also said he would probably visit the state on Friday. "We're working very closely with representatives from Texas, and it's a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible," Trump said on Sunday in New Jersey. On the ground, local residents are stepping up to support relief efforts - collecting supplies, offering shelter, and doing what they can to help neighbours displaced by the storm. Alma Garcia drove in from the city of San Antonio to deliver home-cooked meals to residents and volunteers helping with the clean-up effort. The BBC saw her pull over on the side of the road and take off a top layer T-shirt to give to a resident. "She was all wet, I told her she's going to need it," Ms Garcia told the BBC. Local resident Perla started collecting clothes and shoes on Friday after she finished her shift at Walmart. She dropped them off at a shelter the next morning. "I've never seen something like this before," she told the BBC. Meanwhile, well wishes poured in from around the world. In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers on Sunday for the bereaved in Texas. "I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States," the pontiff said. "We pray for them." Angélica Casas and Alex Lederman contributed to this report A girls' summer camp cut short by deadly disaster Texas flood victims: Girl 'having time of her life' and 'heart and soul' of camp A boy saved by barbed wire, a 'destroyed' camp and missed warning signs in Texas floods
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas lawmakers failed to pass a bill to improve local flood warning systems this year
For the last three days, state Rep. Wes Virdell has been out with first responders in Kerr County as they searched for victims and survivors from the devastating floods that swept through Central Texas early Friday morning. 'All the focus right now is let's save all the lives we can,' Virdell, who was still on the scene in Kerrville, told The Texas Tribune on Sunday. Virdell's closeup view of the havoc wreaked on his district has made a lasting impression, he said, and left him reconsidering a vote he made just a few months ago against a bill that would have established a grant program for counties like Kerr to improve the warning systems they use to notify residents of life-threatening disasters. 'I can tell you in hindsight, watching what it takes to deal with a disaster like this, my vote would probably be different now,' the freshman GOP lawmaker said. The measure, House Bill 13, also would have created a new government body to craft a statewide plan for using emergency equipment. It died in the Texas Senate, prompting newfound questions about whether lawmakers should have done more to help rural, cash-strapped counties stave off the deadly effects of future natural disasters. As of Sunday evening, at least 79 people had died in the floods. Of those, 68 were in Kerr County, many of them camping or attending a private summer camp along the Guadalupe River. Virdell, a Hill Country native who lives in Brady, about 100 miles away, made his way to Kerrville early Friday after seeing news that rains raised the Guadalupe more than two feet, swamping its banks in Hunt and other river communities that host thousands of holiday vacationers. He stressed an alarm system, such as sirens used in tornado-prone Texas counties, may not have helped much in this instance because the floodwaters came so quickly. Between 2 and 7 a.m., the Guadalupe River in Kerrville rose from 1 to more than 34 feet in height, according to a flood gauge in the area. 'I don't think there was enough evidence to even suspect something like this was going to happen,' he said. 'I think even if you had a warning system there, this came in so fast and early in the morning it's very unlikely the warning system would have had much effect.' Virdell said he doesn't recall the specifics of the bill or why he opposed it, though he guessed 'it had to do with how much funding' was tied to the measure. State Rep. Ken King's HB 13 would have created The Texas Interoperability Council and tasked it with crafting a statewide strategic plan governing the use of emergency equipment and infrastructure. Even if it had passed, it would not have gone into effect until Sept. 1, after the Hill Country flooding. The bill would have also created a statewide communications network for first responders and provided grants for counties to help pay for improved communications and warning systems, including radio towers. The bill's initial $500 million cost drew heavy criticism from fellow Republicans including state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington. 'This shouldn't be about anything other than the fact that it's a half a billion dollars,' Tinderholt, a hardline conservative and budget hawk, said during the April 1 House floor debate. 'This is probably one of the most simple votes we should be able to take today. It's that this interoperability council is going to spend money to try and get these departments to be able to talk together.' Steven Aranyi, a spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, noted that lawmakers — including the Texas Senate, which Patrick oversees — made several 'unprecedented' investments in disaster response during this year's legislative session, totaling $547 million. That included: * $257 million for disaster response aircraft, * $135 million for regional operation facilities, * $90 million to provide ambulances to rural counties, * $65 million for emergency response drone technology. The flaw with HB 13, Aranyi said, was that it proposed rolling out the local grant money over an estimated timeline of up to 10 years. 'By the time any system was developed, it would be outdated due to advances in technology,' Aranyi said. 'The grants in the bill were limited to planning purposes only; they did not support disaster response.' King, R-Canadian, filed the bill in response to the devastating wildfires last year that engulfed the Panhandle, when more than 1 million acres burned and three people died. King, who lost part of his property in the fires, said he found communication problems as he led the investigative committee last year. King did not immediately return a call seeking comment. As the disaster quickly unfolded in Kerr County, located in the heart of an area known for flash floods, much has been made of the fact that the county lacked a siren system that counties in other parts of Texas have to alert residents of tornadoes. Such a system has been considered before in Kerr County, but quickly dismissed because the high cost would fall alone on local taxpayers. A flash flood watch was issued by the National Weather Service by Thursday afternoon for the region. Then, in the middle of the night, at 1:14 a.m. Friday, a flash food warning was issued as possibly 'catastrophic,' for Bandera and Kerr Counties, according to the NWS. Those alerts would have automatically triggered Wireless Emergency Alerts on enabled mobile devices, the weather service said. But because the alerts went out when most residents and visitors were asleep, coupled with the fact that many of those children attending summer camp as well as their counselors were without cell phones, the alerts likely went unheeded by many. Residents who were up before daylight on Friday 4 reported rain misting by 3 a.m. but nothing out of the ordinary. That changed quickly by 5 a.m. Friday when flooding was detected on roadways in Kerr County. The flooding reached its peak at around 6:45 a.m. in Kerrville, hours after warnings were first issued, according to the local flood gauge. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told reporters on Saturday local residents have rejected the idea of a siren system due to its expense when it had been suggested before. 'The public reeled at the cost,' Kelly said. At a news conference on Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott left the door open to legislation aimed at improving emergency warning systems, but stopped short of saying he would put it on the agenda for lawmakers to consider during the special session he has scheduled to begin July 21. 'It's going to be something that will be looked at,' Abbott said. 'The reality also is this, and that is, what's needed in that river basin at that location could be far different than it was needed in some other river basin across the state.' For now, Virdell said his focus and that of officials in Kerr County is on locating more victims and helping residents. He said the collaboration between local responders and those others coming in from around the state has been 'amazing.' Talk of warning systems and how to improve communications will eventually happen, Virdell said, adding that, right now, the focus needs to be on the immediate community. 'That's the No. 1 priority for now,' he said. 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