Latest news with #UpperGuadalupeRiverAuthority
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Kerr County warned of ‘monstrous and devastating flash floods'
AUSTIN (KXAN) — While Kerr County officials say they didn't know how bad the July 4 flooding would be, it warned residents nearly eight years ago to 'be flood aware' about the ongoing potential for 'monstrous and devastating flash floods.' 'The topography is favorable for water to not just stagnate but to rush down rivers, creeks and streams,' said Cary Burgess, a Hill Country meteorologist. 'If you get three or four inches of rain at one time, that could be a real serious problem.' Kerr County received as much as three to four times that, according to reports. In September 2017, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority sounded the alarm in an online video produced with Kerr County and the city of Kerrville warning about the dangers of flash floods and its historical precedent posted to YouTube. The video notes Kerr County, and Central Texas, are 'the most flash flood prone area in the United States by the National Weather Service, often referred to as 'Flash Flood Alley' due to its steep terrain and shallow soil. As Kerr County leaders avoid alert questions, new audio surfaces in CodeRED timeline 'Our area has a history of monstrous and devastating flash floods,' the video said. Like a historic flood in August 1978 that killed at least nine people and another flood in July 1987 that killed 10. 'It rained about 15 inches in a matter of three hours,' Burgess said. In 2016, officials discussed flood warning sirens. According to Kerr County Commissioners' Court meeting minutes, one commissioner said at the time: 'The thought of beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night, I'm going to have to start drinking again to put up with y'all.' In 2018, the county's request for a $1 million grant for a new flood warning system was rejected. So far, Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William B. 'Dub' Thomas has not said what actions were taken after the first flood alerts came in a week ago. In the 2017 online video, he said it was up to residents to 'heed the warnings' — like not driving across flooded roads. 'It's all about personal accountability,' Thomas said. 'You're responsible for your life, your family's life, the lives of your children.' On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the creation of House and Senate Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding. Lawmakers will look at flood warning systems, emergency communications and relief funding during the upcoming special session. 'In the coming year, and into the next regular legislative session,' Patrick said, 'we will gather all the facts and answer the many questions to which the public demands answers.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
4 days ago
- Climate
- The Hill
Kerr County warned of ‘monstrous and devastating flash floods'
AUSTIN (KXAN) — While Kerr County officials say they didn't know how bad the July 4 flooding would be, it warned residents nearly eight years ago to 'be flood aware' about the ongoing potential for 'monstrous and devastating flash floods.' 'The topography is favorable for water to not just stagnate but to rush down rivers, creeks and streams,' said Cary Burgess, a Hill Country meteorologist. 'If you get three or four inches of rain at one time, that could be a real serious problem.' Kerr County received as much as three to four times that, according to reports. In September 2017, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority sounded the alarm in an online video produced with Kerr County and the city of Kerrville warning about the dangers of flash floods and its historical precedent posted to YouTube. The video notes Kerr County, and Central Texas, are 'the most flash flood prone area in the United States by the National Weather Service, often referred to as 'Flash Flood Alley' due to its steep terrain and shallow soil. As Kerr County leaders avoid alert questions, new audio surfaces in CodeRED timeline 'Our area has a history of monstrous and devastating flash floods,' the video said. Like a historic flood in August 1978 that killed at least nine people and another flood in July 1987 that killed 10. 'It rained about 15 inches in a matter of three hours,' Burgess said. In 2016, officials discussed flood warning sirens. According to Kerr County Commissioners' Court meeting minutes, one commissioner said at the time: 'The thought of beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night, I'm going to have to start drinking again to put up with y'all.' In 2018, the county's request for a $1 million grant for a new flood warning system was rejected. So far, Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William B. 'Dub' Thomas has not said what actions were taken after the first flood alerts came in a week ago. In the 2017 online video, he said it was up to residents to 'heed the warnings' — like not driving across flooded roads. 'It's all about personal accountability,' Thomas said. 'You're responsible for your life, your family's life, the lives of your children.' On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the creation of House and Senate Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding. Lawmakers will look at flood warning systems, emergency communications and relief funding during the upcoming special session. 'In the coming year, and into the next regular legislative session,' Patrick said, 'we will gather all the facts and answer the many questions to which the public demands answers.'
New York Post
4 days ago
- General
- New York Post
Hero Camp Mystic director who died trying to save girls from floods fought for years for better warning systems
The hero Camp Mystic director Richard 'Dick' Eastland had battled floods on the grounds for decades and even once saw his pregnant wife airlifted from the property because of a deluge, prompting him to repeatedly urge for better warning systems in his flood-prone Kerr County. Eastland — who perished trying to save young girls at his Hunt, Texas, camp on the Guadalupe River — had fought for an early flood alert system after the grounds were repeatedly inundated. 3 Camp Mystic director Richard 'Dick' Eastland had battled floods for years with Eastland even once seeing his wife Tweety forced to be airlifted to a hospital when she was pregnant with their fourth child. Instagram/campmystichunttx Advertisement Last week's devastating flash floods killed 27 people who were on the Central Texas camp grounds and killed a least 118 people total in the region. There were roughly 750 people at Camp Mystic at the time. But flood waters plagued the camp grounds regularly for the 99 years it's been around since. Eastland — who in prior years had sat on the Upper Guadalupe River Authority's board — returned to the board in 2022 after he was appointed by by Gov. Greg Abbott. Advertisement In April, the board voted to hire a company to put in place a data monitoring system for emergency flood response. Work had been slated to begin on it this month. 'The river is beautiful,' Eastland told the Austin American-Statesman in 1990. 'But you have to respect it.' Five years earlier, Eastland's wife Tweety — who was pregnant with their fourth child — had to be evacuated from the Central Texas camp to a hospital since it was cut off at the by floodwaters, CNN reported, citing local news. 3 Eastland and his wife bought the camp in 1974 and had battled to have an early warning system installed. LeslieEastland/Facebook Advertisement In the late 1980s, Eastland successfully petitioned for an early warning system to be implemented after 10 kids at a neighboring camp died in 1987 when they were swept away in a flood. That system was retired roughly a decade later in 1999 as it became antiquated and unreliable. While a few flood gauges are in place today, no new global warning system was ever installed after due to a lack of funding, a lack of state support and because of some local opposition. 3 The camp was originally established in 1926 and had multiple incidents of devastating floods. AP Advertisement Eastland was a stalwart in the community since he and Tweety bought the all-girls Christian camp in 1974. The camp was originally established in 1926 and had seen devastating floods nearly since the start, with several cabins getting swept away in 1932, according to local newspapers.
CBS News
5 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Plans for Guadalupe River flood monitoring system were scheduled to get underway in mid-July
After years of unsuccessful attempts to finance and build a public alarm network that would warn residents of Kerr County, Texas, about dangerous flooding, officials in the region, nicknamed "flash flood alley," were going to start developing a centralized flood monitoring system this summer to help leaders and emergency managers plan ahead. On July 4, storms in Central Texas caused the Guadalupe River to overflow, rising as high as 26 feet over about an hour in the very early morning. At least 121 people from several counties have been confirmed dead so far, and even more remain missing six days after the disaster. The majority of those deaths happened in Kerr County, where at least 96 people perished in floodwaters and another 161 are unaccounted for, local authorities said Thursday. In Hunt, a section of the county that faced particularly formidable inundation, at least 27 children and counselors from a girls' summer camp called Camp Mystic are among the dead, the camp announced. The Upper Guadalupe River Authority, a leadership board that manages the river, had approved funding earlier this year for a dashboard "to support local flood monitoring and emergency response," a spokesperson for the joint information center established in Kerr County since the disaster said in a statement to CBS News on Thursday. "While real-time streamflow and rainfall data are already available through various sources, this new tool will bring those datasets for Kerr County into one platform to enhance usability for emergency managers," the statement said. "This is not a public alert system, but a decision-support resource intended to complement existing infrastructure." Board meeting minutes for the Upper Guadalupe River Authority stretching back to at least August 2024 reflect those plans. Last year, the river authority requested bids for a "flood warning" dashboard that would combine multiple sources of weather and forecasting data into a single tool, intended to assist its own staff, local emergency management coordinators, and leaders as they made decisions regarding potential flooding events. Part of the project also called for recommendations for how to improve monitoring equipment in the county related to flood warnings in the future. Kisters North America, an environmental technology company, was selected as the contractor for the project in April, when Kerr County also submitted a hazard mitigation plan to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with one hazard being flooding. The contract was initiated in June, and preliminary meetings with Kisters to begin developing the flood monitoring dashboard were scheduled for mid-July, "but in light of recent events the timeline will be reevaluated," according to the joint information center in Kerr County. How weather alerts and forecast warnings contributed to the consequences of last week's floods in Kerr County is unclear, but the death toll has left many questioning whether more could have been done to protect those in the path of the inundation. A CBS News analysis found that 22 warnings from the National Weather Service were issued for Kerr County around the storms and flash flooding. However, some local residents said they either did not receive emergency alerts on their phones or received them late, while others said they did not understand the gravity of the situation until the flooding actually hit. Judge Rob Kelly, a leading official in Kerr County, said at a news conference Friday that his area does not have a warning system established for weather events and suggested that could have played a role in the lack of preparedness. County officials had previously discussed installing a public alarm system but did not proceed because of the cost.
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Climate
- Wall Street Journal
New Flood Warning System Greenlit Shortly Before Deadly Texas Disaster
A local agency that helps manage the Guadalupe River was in the process of setting up a software program to help Kerr County officials better assess flood threats three months before flash floods killed more than 110 people and left dozens missing, according to public records. The Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which oversees the river winding through Kerr County in the Texas Hill Country, in April contracted with a company to create a 'dashboard' to aggregate disparate rainfall and other weather data so emergency managers could more readily spot a flood threat. The status of the contract, for $73,000, was unclear, and officials of the authority, a government agency, referred questions to the county, which declined to respond.
