Latest news with #DannyMorales
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Texas Community Where No One Died in Devastating Floods Credits Siren System with Saving Lives
Officials in one Texas community are attributing their investment into an updated siren system with saving lives amid the devastating floods that impacted several counties in central Texas last week Danny Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, told NBC News that residents "knew that if they heard the siren, they gotta get out" 'Anything we can do to add to the safety, we're going to sit down and try to make it work,' he saidOne Texas community hit by last week's multi-county flooding activated an emergency siren system for the first time, which officials believe helped save lives Danny Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, said that nobody died in Comfort, according to NBC News. The small town home to about 2,300 people in Kendall County, which is about 20 miles away from Kerr County, where the majority of deaths from the flooding disaster occurred and at least 96 have died. 'People knew that if they heard the siren, they gotta get out,' Morales told NBC News. In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Morales, who has been with the fire department for decades, said that he helped secure funding for the security system last year when the opportunity came up — years after a 1978 flood killed 15 people in Comfort, including his grandfather. Last year, the firehouse was given a new siren, while an old siren was refurbished and moved to Comfort Park, where officials hooked it up to a U.S. Geological Survey sensor at Cypress Creek, the AP. reported While the siren can be manually triggered, the sensor also does the same when water levels reach a certain point. According to the news agency, the sirens use a specific flat tone for floods and a different sound for tornados. 'We do for ourselves and for the community,' Morales said. 'If we hadn't had a drought the past months and the [Cypress] Creek hadn't been down, we could have had another '78. The past few days, I'll tell you, it brings back a lot.' 'Anything we can do to add to the safety, we're going to sit down and try to make it work,' he added, sharing that funders have contacted him about adding a third siren in town. 'The way things are happening, it might be time to enhance the system even further.' As noted by NBC News, despite years of talks about installing a sirens in Kerr County, there was none in place at the time of the tragedy, although it's difficult to know the impact that kind of warning system could have had. The outlet went on to point out that the flooding hit Kerr Counter earlier, at a time when many residents were either sleeping or at least still indoors. In Kendall County, where Comfort is located, by the time the sirens went off, many people were already awake and aware of the devastating situation at hand. Still, Lorena Guillen, owner of Blue Oak RV Park in Kerrville — who went door to door to urge her guests to flee last week — told MSNBC that cell service in Texas Hill Country is spotty and having 'a siren like they do with tornadoes" could have helped. Brady Constantine, fire marshal and emergency management coordinator for Kendall County, told ABC affiliate KSAT that he awoke to the a warning he set up around 2 a.m. on the day of the floods and learned of the rising waters of the Guadalupe River. He then called up Morales, who set up a command at the fire station by 4:30 a.m. The county sent out its first wireless emergency message by 5:30 a.m. — ahead of three additional alerts all before 8:06 a.m., per KSAT. The county also issued a mandatory evacuation for those living near the river, which began rising around 9 a.m. in Comfort, according to the outlet. At 10:52 a.m., the fire department sounded the flood sirens — both at the park and at the fire station. Together, the sirens cost the county about $70,000, with 80% covered by a nonprofit, according to KSAT. 'We're going to sit back and do an evaluation after this to see how we can improve our system," said County Judge Shane Stolarczyk. Beyond the sirens themselves, residents were also sent a flash flood warnings and additional notifications, per the outlet. 'That warning system was utilized and was a significant factor in us having a quick response,' Stolarczyk said. Cruz Newberry, owner of Table Rock Alerting Systems which installed Comfort's system last year, told NBC News that the sirens are a measure of a last resort — following media alerts, phone warnings and social media. 'The nice thing with an outdoor warning system is it's one of the few methods that local officials have at their disposal where they can literally press a button and warn citizens themselves,' Newberry said. 'It's difficult to ignore a siren blaring for three minutes straight.' To learn how to help support the victims and recovery efforts from the Texas floods, click here. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Tamar Bates with the hoop & harm
Personal items are seen amid the aftermath of flooding along the Guadalupe River near Comfort, Texas, on July 10, 2025. It's just before noon and several news crews are gathered outside the fire hall in Comfort, Texas, their cameras pointed at a yellow siren high on a pole and set to go off every day at midday. Ever since the deadly July 4 flash floods that ripped through the region, this small community of roughly 2,000 people and its flood warning siren have become a focal point amid questions about the failures of other warning systems in communities along the Guadalupe River. As floodwaters from the river started to back up along Cypress Creek, which snakes around the town, officials in Comfort sounded sirens which wailed in two locations to warn townspeople of impending flooding."These sirens helped us," said assistant Fire Chief Danny Morales, a more than 50-year veteran of the volunteer fire department in Comfort, which is in Kendall County, immediately east and downstream of Kerr County which was hardest hit by the flooding. Inside the fire hall is the emergency command centre where responders can monitor weather patterns and data from water gauges along the river and creek."That really is a dangerous creek for us," Morales said. "If it's flooding and runs into the river ... it backs all that up."WATCH | Long history of flooding: There's also a little black, electronic box with some buttons. One is for tornados, the second is for floods. That's the one Morales's team pushed around 10 a.m. on Independence Day."The officers that were in charge, we made the decision that, 'Hey, we better hit this siren,'" he said. Per procedure, the community also sent police and fire department vehicles — with their sirens and lights turned on — to let residents know it was time to go, he says. Morales has a personal stake in making things better."I lost my granddad in the '78 flood here in Comfort and ever since then I've made it a point that, you know, I'm going to try to better our warning systems for our community," he items are seen amid the aftermath of flooding along the Guadalupe River near Comfort, Texas, on Thursday. (Kate Kyle/CBC)The sirens are part of a series of emergency upgrades within the community."The community has been very supportive. I've had ladies in the community that have helped me a lot making phone calls to the right people, should I say, and you know how ladies can be, they can be demanding," said Murphy is one of those ladies, a group of four women in their 80s who started the ball rolling looking for government, corporate and foundations to enhance the town's warning Murphy and three other local women set out to help make their community of Comfort, Texas, safer when flash floods strike. (Kate Kyle/CBC)Murphy used to volunteer with the town's emergency medical services, wrote a book about the 1978 flood. As she researched the previous disasters that hit the community she and her friends couldn't stop thinking about solutions to make the community safer. They talked to Morales, got his input, and banded together to make change."It took four women over age 80 to ... suggest that Comfort move forward and try to improve our situation so that we wouldn't lose people," Murphy said. The latest flood, which killed more than two dozen youths at Camp Mystic upriver, brought her back to another disaster that devastated the area. "Our hearts were aching because we knew that it was not going to be good," she said. "In '87, a busload of campers from Pot O'Gold" — another area summer camp — "turned and the river carried them away. And it was a nightmare for the community. I think 10 children were lost and many of them had to be rescued from tall trees."Katie Rode is a pastor who's helping with Comfort's volunteer fire department. She says the search for the missing comes with a high emotional and spiritual toll. (Kate Kyle/CBC)This time, Comfort was spared the worst of the flooding but the community is heavily involved in helping searchers look for the missing. The members of the volunteer fire department, almost all of whom have day jobs, have been out on the river searching, or helping to transport other search teams in their high-water rescue Rode surveys a dense debris pile across the river bank. The department recovered a body nearby and, as the waters recede, searchers are getting better access to look for the missing. "I think Comfort has been lucky this time. I think that the siren definitely helped. But the heaviest flooding just happened upriver from us and next time it could be here," she said."Our job is generally to go in to help and to render aid," she said. "We're losing the hope that we'll get to resolve this other than reuniting families with their loved ones so that they can have closure."Crews work to clear debris from flooding along the Guadalupe River near Comfort, on Thursday. (Kate Kyle/CBC)Rode, who is also a pastor, says it is emotionally and spiritually draining."There's a line in the funeral prayer where we say that God makes holy the resting places of all of God's people," she said, pausing as tears ran down her cheek. "And if you think about it that way, this entire river has become a very holy place because this is a resting place for a lot of God's people." 0:42 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
When floodwaters came, one small Texas town sounded its alarm
It's just before noon and several news crews are gathered outside the fire hall in Comfort, Texas, their cameras pointed at a yellow siren high on a pole and set to go off every day at midday. Ever since the deadly July 4 flash floods that ripped through the region, this small community of roughly 2,000 people and its flood warning siren have become a focal point amid questions about the failures of other warning systems in communities along the Guadalupe River. As floodwaters from the river started to back up along Cypress Creek, which snakes around the town, officials in Comfort sounded sirens which wailed in two locations to warn townspeople of impending flooding. "These sirens helped us," said assistant Fire Chief Danny Morales, a more than 50-year veteran of the volunteer fire department in Comfort, which is in Kendall County, immediately east and downstream of Kerr County which was hardest hit by the flooding. Inside the fire hall is the emergency command centre where responders can monitor weather patterns and data from water gauges along the river and creek. "That really is a dangerous creek for us," Morales said. "If it's flooding and runs into the river ... it backs all that up." WATCH | Long history of flooding: There's also a little black, electronic box with some buttons. One is for tornados, the second is for floods. That's the one Morales's team pushed around 10 a.m. on Independence Day. "The officers that were in charge, we made the decision that, 'Hey, we better hit this siren,'" he said. Per procedure, the community also sent police and fire department vehicles — with their sirens and lights turned on — to let residents know it was time to go, he says. Morales has a personal stake in making things better. "I lost my granddad in the '78 flood here in Comfort and ever since then I've made it a point that, you know, I'm going to try to better our warning systems for our community," he said. The sirens are part of a series of emergency upgrades within the community. "The community has been very supportive. I've had ladies in the community that have helped me a lot making phone calls to the right people, should I say, and you know how ladies can be, they can be demanding," said Morales. Betty Murphy is one of those ladies, a group of four women in their 80s who started the ball rolling looking for government, corporate and foundations to enhance the town's warning system. Murphy used to volunteer with the town's emergency medical services, wrote a book about the 1978 flood. As she researched the previous disasters that hit the community she and her friends couldn't stop thinking about solutions to make the community safer. They talked to Morales, got his input, and banded together to make change. "It took four women over age 80 to ... suggest that Comfort move forward and try to improve our situation so that we wouldn't lose people," Murphy said. The latest flood, which killed more than two dozen youths at Camp Mystic upriver, brought her back to another disaster that devastated the area. "Our hearts were aching because we knew that it was not going to be good," she said. "In '87, a busload of campers from Pot O'Gold" — another area summer camp — "turned and the river carried them away. And it was a nightmare for the community. I think 10 children were lost and many of them had to be rescued from tall trees." This time, Comfort was spared the worst of the flooding but the community is heavily involved in helping searchers look for the missing. The members of the volunteer fire department, almost all of whom have day jobs, have been out on the river searching, or helping to transport other search teams in their high-water rescue vehicle. Katie Rode surveys a dense debris pile across the river bank. The department recovered a body nearby and, as the waters recede, searchers are getting better access to look for the missing. "I think Comfort has been lucky this time. I think that the siren definitely helped. But the heaviest flooding just happened upriver from us and next time it could be here," she said. "Our job is generally to go in to help and to render aid," she said. "We're losing the hope that we'll get to resolve this other than reuniting families with their loved ones so that they can have closure." Rode, who is also a pastor, says it is emotionally and spiritually draining. "There's a line in the funeral prayer where we say that God makes holy the resting places of all of God's people," she said, pausing as tears ran down her cheek. "And if you think about it that way, this entire river has become a very holy place because this is a resting place for a lot of God's people."
CBC
4 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
When floodwaters came, one small Texas town sounded its alarm
It's just before noon and several news crews are gathered outside the fire hall in Comfort, Texas, their cameras pointed at a yellow siren high on a pole and set to go off every day at midday. Ever since the deadly July 4 flash floods that ripped through the region, this small community of roughly 2,000 people and its flood warning siren have become a focal point amid questions about the failures of other warning systems in communities along the Guadalupe River. As floodwaters from the river started to back up along Cypress Creek, which snakes around the town, officials in Comfort sounded sirens which wailed in two locations to warn townspeople of impending flooding. "These sirens helped us," said assistant Fire Chief Danny Morales, a more than 50-year veteran of the volunteer fire department in Comfort, which is in Kendall County, immediately east and downstream of Kerr County which was hardest hit by the flooding. Inside the fire hall is the emergency command centre where responders can monitor weather patterns and data from water gauges along the river and creek. "That really is a dangerous creek for us," Morales said. "If it's flooding and runs into the river... it backs all that up." WATCH | Long history of flooding: 'Being prepared is our thing' 24 minutes ago Duration 0:56 The region around Comfort, Texas, has a long history of flooding which makes being able to warn the populace — often late at night — very important, says volunteer firefighter Danny Morales. 'Being prepared is our thing,' he says. There's also a little black, electronic box with some buttons. One is for tornados, the second is for floods. That's the one Morales's team pushed around 10 a.m. on Independence Day. "The officers that were in charge, we made the decision that, 'Hey, we better hit this siren,'" he said. Per procedure, the community also sent police and fire department vehicles — with their sirens and lights turned on — to let residents know it was time to go, he says. Morales has a personal stake in making things better. "I lost my granddad in the '78 flood here in Comfort and ever since then I've made it a point that, you know, I'm going to try to better our warning systems for our community," he said. The sirens are part of a series of emergency upgrades within the community. A small team of local ladies helped "a lot," he said. Betty Murphy is one of those ladies, a group of four women in their 80s who started the ball rolling looking for government, corporate and foundations to enhance the town's warning system. Murphy "can be demanding," said Morales, and used to volunteer with the town's emergency medical services, wrote a book about the 1978 flood. As she researched the previous disasters that hit the community she and her friends couldn't stop thinking about solutions to make the community safer. They talked to Morales, got his input, and banded together to make change. "It took four women over age 80 to... suggest that Comfort move forward and try to improve our situation so that we wouldn't lose people," Murphy said. The latest flood, which killed more than two dozen youths at Camp Mystic upriver, brought her back to another disaster that devastated the area. "Our hearts were aching because we knew that it was not going to be good," she said. "In '87, a busload of campers from Pot O'Gold" — another area summer camp — "turned and the river carried them away. And it was a nightmare for the community. I think 10 children were lost and many of them had to be rescued from tall trees." This time, Comfort was spared the worst of the flooding but the community is heavily involved in helping searchers look for the missing. The members of the volunteer fire department, almost all of whom have day jobs, have been out on the river searching, or helping to transport other search teams in their high-water rescue vehicle. Katie Rode surveys a dense debris pile across the river bank. The department recovered a body nearby and, as the waters recede, searchers are getting better access to look for the missing. "I think Comfort has been lucky this time. I think that the siren definitely helped. But the heaviest flooding just happened upriver from us and next time it could be here," she said. "Our job is generally to go in to help and to render aid," she said. "We're losing the hope that we'll get to resolve this other than reuniting families with their loved ones so that they can have closure." Rode, who is also a pastor, says it is emotionally and spiritually draining. "There's a line in the funeral prayer where we say that God makes holy the resting places of all of God's people," she said, pausing as tears ran down her cheek. "And if you think about it that way, this entire river has become a very holy place because this is a resting place for a lot of God's people."
NBC News
7 days ago
- Climate
- NBC News
In deadly Texas floods, one town had what some didn't: A wailing warning siren
As heavy rain triggered flash flood warnings along the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country early Friday, the small unincorporated town of Comfort had something its neighbors upriver in Kerr County didn't: wailing sirens urging residents to flee before the water could swallow them. Comfort had recently updated its disaster alert system, installing a new siren in the volunteer fire department's headquarters and moving the old one to a low-lying area of town along Cypress Creek, a tributary of the Guadalupe that is prone to flooding. Friday was the first time the new two-siren system had been used outside of tests, providing a last-minute alarm for anyone who hadn't responded to previous warnings on their cellphones or evacuation announcements from firefighters driving around town. 'People knew that if they heard the siren, they gotta get out,' said Danny Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department. Morales said that no one died in Comfort, a town of about 2,300 people in Kendall County. But in Kerr County about 20 miles away, dozens of people, including young girls staying at Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian summer camp, were washed away when the Guadalupe surged over its banks and swamped the surrounding countryside. As of Monday evening, officials said, 104 people had been confirmed dead, 84 of them in Kerr County, including dozens of children. Kerr County has no siren system despite years of debate, in part because some local officials felt it was too expensive to install. The part of Texas Hill Country known as 'flash flood alley' has seen rising waters many times before, but the swift and punishing destruction over the Fourth of July has focused attention on whether local officials are doing enough to protect their residents as climate change causes more frequent and severe weather disasters and the federal government is slashing spending on emergency preparedness. The swollen river has receded, leaving behind heartbreaking signs of the devastation: little girls' suitcases and clothes strewn along the wrecked cabin grounds and plush toys caked with detritus, twisted metal and gnarled vehicles. Three days after the flooding, searchers were still picking through downed trees and hunting through thick black mud for those still missing. Parents' hopes were dimming as the days dragged on with no signs of life. It is impossible to know whether a siren system in Kerr County would have saved lives; they are meant to alert people who are outdoors, not in bed indoors, as many of Kerr County's victims were when the river rose overnight — at one point by 26 feet in just 45 minutes. The weather service issued a flood watch for the area Thursday afternoon and an urgent flash flood warning for Kerr County at 1:14 a.m. Friday, a move that triggers the wireless emergency alerts on cellphones. By the time flooding inundated low-lying parts of Kendall County, where Comfort is located, it was later Friday morning. The first weather service flash flood alert for Kendall came at 7:24 a.m. When the sirens went off, many residents were already awake and aware of the dangerous flooding. A Facebook video recorded by Jeff Flinn, the managing editor of The Boerne Star, shows the emergency sirens in Comfort sounding at 10:52 a.m.; he said the alert lasted for about 30 seconds. Kerr County was relying on the emergency alerts that blare on cellphones. Those alerts may not get through, particularly in rural areas with bad service or in the night when phones are off or when there are no phones around; the girls at the summer camp weren't allowed to bring them. And some may choose to ignore them, because they're bombarded by phone alerts. Some Texas officials have blamed the National Weather Service, arguing it didn't do a good enough job forecasting rainfall and issuing timely flood warnings. But some independent meteorologists and a former weather service official told NBC News that the agency performed as well as it could given the unpredictability of rain and flash flooding and the timing of the disaster. Tom Moser, a former Kerr County commissioner, said he began looking into a warning system for his area after flooding in Hays County, which was overwhelmed by the Blanco River, killed 13 people over Memorial Day weekend in 2015. Kerr County officials debated various options, including one for an alert system that included sensors and sirens, and the cost was about $1 million, Moser said. 'There were a number of people that did not like the sirens going off because they go off accidentally,' Moser said. 'They didn't want that disturbance in the Hill Country.' At a March 2016 commissioners' meeting, Rusty Hierholzer, then the Kerr County sheriff, was adamant that the deadly flooding in the Hays County community of Wimberley was a warning for the need to install sirens in addition to a phone app notification system known as Code Red already in use. In Wimberley, some people didn't get alerts on their phones, 'so yes, you need both,' Hierholzer said, according to a transcript of the meeting. 'You need the sirens, and you need Code Red to try and make sure we'll notify everybody as we can when it's coming up.' During a follow-up discussion about the proposal that August, then-Commissioner H.A. 'Buster' Baldwin questioned the flood warning system they were considering, saying, 'I think this whole thing is a little extravagant for Kerr County, with sirens and such,' according to a transcript. They estimated the system would cost $1 million, and they didn't have the money to add it to the budget. Moser said they also didn't get disaster relief funding they'd asked for from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 'As a matter of fact, there were no grants available we thought we could get in a timely fashion,' Moser said.
