Latest news with #GuadalupeRiver
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Texas Hill Country floods: What we know so far
A week after heavy rains pummeled the Texas Hill Country and the flooded Guadalupe River swept hundreds of people overnight, Texans have come together to mourn, search for the many people missing and begin to rebuild. Many questions remain about how storms caught off guard an area prone to flooding and led to the second deadliest flood in Texas history. Here's what we know. Flooding death toll increases to 137 across Texas The floods swept away local residents, summer campers along the river and many visitors who were in the scenic area for the Fourth of July weekend. There were at least 108 confirmed deaths, including 37 children, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, told lawmakers at about the floods. At least 137 people died across Texas due to the flooding, Nim Kidd, chief the Texas Division of Emergency Management, previously said during a about the floods. On July 7, the nearly century-old girls' Camp Mystic confirmed that 27 campers and counselors were among the dead. Kidd on July 23 said the number of missing people across the region had dropped to two. More than 100 people were initially listed as missing; officials have said the drastic drop came "through extensive follow-up work among state and local agencies" which verified that nearly all the missing people were safe. On July 22, Gov. Greg Abbott said online that the search continued for one adult male and a girl from Camp Mystic. The tragedy has left families like that of Tanya Powell mourning. Her 21-year-old daughter, Ella Rose Cahill, was found dead July 8. 'It was like a relieved, happy, sad, horrible, wonderful news. I mean, I can't even describe it, because you're so happy that she's still not out there somewhere,' Powell said. 'But at the same time, it's like this final moment.' Others, like the father of Ella's boyfriend, Aidan Heartfield, continued searching through debris and muddy waters, even as hopes to find anyone alive dimmed. Local authorities have said they haven't made a live rescue since the weekend of the floods. Aidan's dad, Thad Heartfield, has been channeling all of his energy into leading volunteer search efforts since the afternoon of July 4. A sliver of hope follows him that Aidan — his kind, smart and gentle 22-year-old son — would rest easy soon. 'I always think today's the day I'll get a call from a DNA match,' Heartfield said July 9. 'I'm answering a lot of calls from numbers I don't know. Every one of those calls, I think this could be that call.' Aidan's body was recovered on July 12, according to multiple media reports. Roughly 2,100 emergency responders from 10 states have descended on Kerr County to assist with the recovery and cleanup efforts, according to officials. But the Hill Country's rough terrain and the flood's devastation — huge debris piles of trees snapped like toothpicks, pieces of broken buildings and mangled cars — have slowed search efforts. Read more about families' search efforts and the wreckage. Texas state leaders call for more sirens, flood gauges and mitigation efforts After failing to pass legislation this spring that would have established a statewide plan to improve Texas' disaster response, state elected leaders have promised to address gaps in the state's flood warning and mitigation systems. State leaders returned to the Texas Capitol on July 21 for a special legislative session and have held legislative committee hearings about the flash flooding and emergency response. At the hearings, state lawmakers have blasted a river authority for failing to build a flood warning system on the Guadalupe River and heard concerns about a lack of minimum qualifications for local emergency management coordinators and about failures getting first responders on the same radio communication channel. More recently, the top two emergency management officials in Kerr County told lawmakers that they were asleep in the early morning hours of July 4 when floodwaters rose. Gov. Greg Abbott, who called the special session after vetoing a THC ban and sets the agenda for these 30-day, overtime lawmaking periods, ordered lawmakers to pass legislation on the following measures this week: flood warning systems flood emergency communications natural disaster preparation and recovery relief funding for the impacted areas Read more about what lawmakers could do in response to the flooding. Disclosure: Facebook has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Texas counties have little power to stop construction in flood-prone areas Camp Mystic and many of the other camps along the Guadalupe River sit on land known to be at high risk for a devastating flood. But they're too far outside any city limits to be more closely regulated. While cities can largely decide what is built, counties in Texas have no jurisdiction to implement comprehensive zoning rules that could limit people from living or building close to the water's edge. Some federal guardrails for building in floodplains, efforts to relocate residents out of flood zones and programs to fortify infrastructure do exist. But relocation programs have had mixed success and many rural counties in Texas don't have hazard mitigation plans required for infrastructure assistance. The state's explosive growth, the appeal of inexpensive flood-prone land and extreme weather make this a pressing concern. A quarter of the state's land carries some degree of severe flood risk, leaving an estimated 5 million Texans in possible jeopardy. Read more. Time gap between flood warnings and local response raises questions Though flooding is familiar to the Hill Country, the high death toll has raised questions about whether forecasters or local officials in charge of emergency response gave people in the area adequate warning. Ahead of the devastation, the National Weather Service on Thursday afternoon issued a flood watch — a threat designation that means the conditions are present for a flood to happen — for Kerr County. At 1:14 a.m., federal forecasters escalated that announcement to a flood warning, a signal that flooding is happening or is imminent. It was sent out three hours and 21 minutes before the first flooding reports came in from low-lying water crossings in the area. The weather service says that first warning triggered one of many automatic alerts to cellphones and weather radios, telling people in the area of the danger. NWS officials said they also communicated directly with local officials during the night of the floods, but did not specify when. In some cases, they said, calls went to voicemail. Kerrville's mayor said he was unaware of the flooding until around 5:30 a.m., more than four hours after that first warning, when the city manager called and woke him up. Warnings didn't go up on county Facebook pages until around the same time — when the Guadalupe River had already risen rapidly, spilled out of its banks around Hunt and was making its way toward the county seat of Kerrville. It remains a mystery whether local officials got the NWS' initial warning and activated in any meaningful way before the flooding. Officials have not provided clear answers, saying their attention is on search and rescue efforts. Read more about the flooding and response timeline. The Hill Country's many hills and rivers are a 'recipe for catastrophic floods' The very features that draw people to Texas Hill Country — hills, multiple rivers and rocky terrain ideal for fishing or camping under starry skies — also make it one of the most flood-prone areas in the country. The Balcones Escarpment, a major geological feature that cuts across Central Texas, makes for dramatic views and elevation changes in the area. But it can also lead storms to stall and dump heavy rain, as was the case when leftover moisture from Tropical Storm Barry intensified the storms that caused the flash floods. And when storms roll in, water rushes downhill fast, gaining speed and force as it moves. There's little to slow it down — thin, rocky soil doesn't absorb much water, and exposed bedrock and sparse vegetation offer no buffer. Clay-rich soils in parts of the region also prevent infiltration, meaning rain turns to runoff almost immediately. Between 2 and 7 a.m. on July 4, the Guadalupe River in Kerrville rose 35 feet, according to a flood gauge in the area. Hydrologists say it's a 'recipe for catastrophic floods' that has merited the area the nickname of 'flash flood alley' and has led to about 30 major flooding events of 20 feet or more in the cities of Kerrville, Hunt and Comfort since 1966. Read more about the history of flooding in the area. Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Owners said a Texas RV park was safe. Then flooding killed 37 people.
INGRAM, Texas — In the fall of 2021, a real estate executive whose company was planning to upgrade an RV park along the Guadalupe River assured officials that guests would have time to flee in the event of a flood. People would stay 'as close as we can get to the river,' Minh Tran, a partner at HTR Investors, the company that had recently bought the park, told Ingram's City Council. 'I love water,' he said. 'A lot of RVers do.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Parents of woman who died in Texas flooding file lawsuit saying campground had ‘history of dangerous flooding'
The family of a 22-year-old probation officer, who was killed in the deadly floods that ravaged Kerr County, Texas, filed what's believed to be the first lawsuit since the disaster. Flash floods slammed Kerr County and its surrounding areas last month, claiming at least 135 lives. The regions along the Guadalupe River were hit particularly hard as heavy rain caused the body of water to rise 36 feet. Jayda Floyd, a 22-year-old from Odessa, Texas, died after floodwaters deluged a luxury RV park and campground along the Guadalupe River on July 4, the lawsuit states. Her parents, Christie and David Floyd, are suing campground owners and its general manager, seeking more than $1 million in damages. Floyd, her fiancé Bailey Martin, and his family were staying at the HTR TX Hill Country Resort on the evening of July 3 into the following morning, when severe floods hit. The defendants were aware of the risk of "catastrophic flooding' but didn't warn Floyd or Martin of this risk, the filing states. The lawsuit lays out the timeline of alerts sent by local and national officials, starting on July 2. The defendants were 'negligent' for failing to establish proper storm and flood monitoring procedures, to safely and timely evacuate the property, and to warn guests of the risk of flooding, the suit claims. The defendants placed 'guests in a known floodplain with a history of dangerous flooding' and installed structures on the campground that were not 'designed to withstand flooding conditions,' the lawsuit alleges. 'The flood waters scraped the structures from the HTR TX Hill Country Resort, leaving a barren wasteland,' the lawsuit states, alongside a photo of the aftermath of the damage. A spokesperson for HTR TX Hill Country Resort told The Independent in a statement: 'Our hearts go out to Ms. Floyd's family, her fiancé, and other loved ones – and to all of those who were impacted by the flooding that devastated the Kerrville community. As has been widely acknowledged by state and local authorities, meteorologists, and other experts, no one could have anticipated the unprecedented severity and rapid onset of the flooding that occurred and that exposed serious failures in public warning systems and emergency response protocols.' 'While we have not yet been served with this complaint, we have reviewed a copy. We reject its fundamental premise and will be prepared to vigorously defend ourselves in court,' the statement read. A message on the resort's website reads: "Due to severe weather and flooding in the area, our campground is currently closed for the safety of our guests and staff." On the morning of July 4, Floyd helped Martin's teenage step-siblings climb to the roof of the RV, saving their lives as floodwaters rose, lawyers for her family said in a press release. Floyd served as a juvenile probation officer in Ector County and was pursuing her master's degree in psychology at the University of Texas Permian Basin. The 22-year-old had dreamed of helping at-risk youth. 'She was someone who was going to make a difference in the lives of people, particularly kids,' her father, David Floyd, said in a statement. The family is hoping for some accountability, the family's lawyers said. 'Businesses operating campgrounds along the river have known about its flooding history for decades,' Jon Clark, an attorney for the family, said in a statement. 'We will investigate what steps — if any — were taken to monitor conditions and warn guests of the danger they were in.' Texas officials have faced scrutiny for their response to and warnings about the catastrophic floods. The National Weather Service sent out a string of flash flood warnings on the afternoon of July 3 before issuing flash flood emergencies in the wee hours of July 4, alerting locals that the weather posed a a severe threat. Last month, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency defended his agency's response. 'I can't see anything we did wrong,' David Richardson told a House panel. Meteorologists and local officials also supported the emergency response efforts. 'The forecasting was good. The warnings were good. It's always about getting people to receive the message,' Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist based in Wisconsin, told NBC News in the days after the floods.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Parents of woman who died in Texas flooding file lawsuit saying campground had ‘history of dangerous flooding'
The family of a 22-year-old probation officer, who was killed in the deadly floods that ravaged Kerr County, Texas, filed what's believed to be the first lawsuit since the disaster. Flash floods slammed Kerr County and its surrounding areas last month, claiming at least 135 lives. The regions along the Guadalupe River were hit particularly hard as heavy rain caused the body of water to rise 36 feet. Jayda Floyd, a 22-year-old from Odessa, Texas, died after floodwaters deluged a luxury RV park and campground along the Guadalupe River on July 4, the lawsuit states. Her parents, Christie and David Floyd, are suing campground owners and its general manager, seeking more than $1 million in damages. Floyd, her fiancé Bailey Martin, and his family were staying at the HTR TX Hill Country Resort on the evening of July 3 into the following morning, when severe floods hit. The defendants were aware of the risk of "catastrophic flooding' but didn't warn Floyd or Martin of this risk, the filing states. The lawsuit lays out the timeline of alerts sent by local and national officials, starting on July 2. The defendants were 'negligent' for failing to establish proper storm and flood monitoring procedures, to safely and timely evacuate the property, and to warn guests of the risk of flooding, the suit claims. The defendants placed 'guests in a known floodplain with a history of dangerous flooding' and installed structures on the campground that were not 'designed to withstand flooding conditions,' the lawsuit alleges. 'The flood waters scraped the structures from the HTR TX Hill Country Resort, leaving a barren wasteland,' the lawsuit states, alongside a photo of the aftermath of the damage. The Independent has reached out to HTR TX Hill Country Resort for a response to the family's claims. A message on the resort's website reads: "Due to severe weather and flooding in the area, our campground is currently closed for the safety of our guests and staff." On the morning of July 4, Floyd helped Martin's teenage step-siblings climb to the roof of the RV, saving their lives as floodwaters rose, lawyers for her family said in a press release. Floyd served as a juvenile probation officer in Ector County and was pursuing her master's degree in psychology at the University of Texas Permian Basin. The 22-year-old had dreamed of helping at-risk youth. 'She was someone who was going to make a difference in the lives of people, particularly kids,' her father, David Floyd, said in a statement. The family is hoping for some accountability, the family's lawyers said. 'Businesses operating campgrounds along the river have known about its flooding history for decades,' Jon Clark, an attorney for the family, said in a statement. 'We will investigate what steps — if any — were taken to monitor conditions and warn guests of the danger they were in.' Texas officials have faced scrutiny for their response to and warnings about the catastrophic floods. The National Weather Service sent out a string of flash flood warnings on the afternoon of July 3 before issuing flash flood emergencies in the wee hours of July 4, alerting locals that the weather posed a a severe threat. Last month, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency defended his agency's response. 'I can't see anything we did wrong,' David Richardson told a House panel. Meteorologists and local officials also supported the emergency response efforts. 'The forecasting was good. The warnings were good. It's always about getting people to receive the message,' Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist based in Wisconsin, told NBC News in the days after the floods.
The Independent
6 days ago
- The Independent
Parents of woman who died in Texas flooding file lawsuit saying campground had ‘history of dangerous flooding'
The family of a 22-year-old probation officer, who was killed in the deadly floods that ravaged Kerr County, Texas, filed what's believed to be the first lawsuit since the disaster. Flash floods slammed Kerr County and its surrounding areas last month, claiming at least 135 lives. The regions along the Guadalupe River were hit particularly hard as heavy rain caused the body of water to rise 36 feet. Jayda Floyd, a 22-year-old from Odessa, Texas, died after floodwaters deluged a luxury RV park and campground along the Guadalupe River on July 4, the lawsuit states. Her parents, Christie and David Floyd, are suing campground owners and its general manager, seeking more than $1 million in damages. Floyd, her fiancé Bailey Martin, and his family were staying at the HTR TX Hill Country Resort on the evening of July 3 into the following morning, when severe floods hit. The defendants were aware of the risk of "catastrophic flooding ' but didn't warn Floyd or Martin of this risk, the filing states. The lawsuit lays out the timeline of alerts sent by local and national officials, starting on July 2. The defendants were 'negligent' for failing to establish proper storm and flood monitoring procedures, to safely and timely evacuate the property, and to warn guests of the risk of flooding, the suit claims. The defendants placed 'guests in a known floodplain with a history of dangerous flooding' and installed structures on the campground that were not 'designed to withstand flooding conditions,' the lawsuit alleges. 'The flood waters scraped the structures from the HTR TX Hill Country Resort, leaving a barren wasteland,' the lawsuit states, alongside a photo of the aftermath of the damage. The Independent has reached out to HTR TX Hill Country Resort for a response to the family's claims. A message on the resort's website reads: "Due to severe weather and flooding in the area, our campground is currently closed for the safety of our guests and staff." On the morning of July 4, Floyd helped Martin's teenage step-siblings climb to the roof of the RV, saving their lives as floodwaters rose, lawyers for her family said in a press release. Floyd served as a juvenile probation officer in Ector County and was pursuing her master's degree in psychology at the University of Texas Permian Basin. The 22-year-old had dreamed of helping at-risk youth. 'She was someone who was going to make a difference in the lives of people, particularly kids,' her father, David Floyd, said in a statement. The family is hoping for some accountability, the family's lawyers said. 'Businesses operating campgrounds along the river have known about its flooding history for decades,' Jon Clark, an attorney for the family, said in a statement. 'We will investigate what steps — if any — were taken to monitor conditions and warn guests of the danger they were in.' Texas officials have faced scrutiny for their response to and warnings about the catastrophic floods. The National Weather Service sent out a string of flash flood warnings on the afternoon of July 3 before issuing flash flood emergencies in the wee hours of July 4, alerting locals that the weather posed a a severe threat. Last month, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency defended his agency's response. 'I can't see anything we did wrong,' David Richardson told a House panel. 'The forecasting was good. The warnings were good. It's always about getting people to receive the message,' Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist based in Wisconsin, told NBC News in the days after the floods.
