KERR COUNTY, Texas – Archived minutes from a 2016 Kerr County Commissioners Court meeting indicate the conversation about implementing a flood warning system dates back years.
Multiple outlets, including ABC News and The Wall Street Journal, which first reported it, have covered the 2016 meeting.
The records come as state, local and national officials trudge through continued search and rescue and cleanup efforts after Fourth of July flash flooding killed 84 people, including 28 children, in Kerr County.
As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, these are the death tolls across Texas due to flooding and rain:
- 87 dead in Kerr County, according to the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office
- 7 dead in Travis County, according to KXAN
- 7 dead in Kendall County, according to the Kendall County Emergency Management
- 3 dead in Burnet County, according to KXAN
- 2 dead in Williamson County, according to Williamson County Emergency Services
- 1 dead in Tom Green County, according to the Associated Press
In a press conference on the morning of Friday, July 4, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said Kerr County does not have a warning system in place along the river.
When pressed by a reporter on why evacuations didn’t take place Thursday evening, Kelly said, “We didn’t know this flood was coming.”
However, a timeline compiled by KSAT shows warnings and state activations began on July 2.
Timeline: When the warnings began for Kerr County before catastrophic flooding
During a Tuesday morning press conference discussing recent search and rescue efforts, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice called the evacuation process — specifically referring to why they were not put in place for the campgrounds along Highway 39 — a “delicate balance.”
“Because if you evacuate too late, you then risk putting buses or cars or vehicles or campers on roads (and) into low-water areas trying to get them out, which then could make it even more challenging,” Rice said. “These flash floods happen very quickly, as well.”
What happened in 2016?
The conversation about the flood warning system in Kerr County has been ongoing for nearly a decade, according to the meeting minutes.
On Monday, March 28, 2016, then-Kerr County Commissioner Tom Moser and W.B. “Dub” Thomas — who currently serves as the emergency management coordinator/deputy sheriff for the City of Ingram and Kerr County, respectively — discussed the topic in detail among the commissioners.
The proposal stemmed from a push by then-Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer, who echoed memories of a deadly 1987 flood that killed 10 children.
Hierholzer mentioned Kerr County’s CodeRED emergency notification system possibly being coupled with sirens to warn of rising water.
“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,” Hierholzer said during the meeting.
Thomas said he and Moser had evaluated a pressure plate system in Comal County that was “run by solar and has loud sirens.” That system was believed to be audible for a three-mile distance, Thomas said.
It is unknown if that system was still in place during the recent Guadalupe River flooding.
Thomas then lists off several flood warning resources, but indicates none are “really flood control or flood warning systems.”
“What I’m looking for is I think we need a system that can be operated or controlled by a centralized location where — whether it’s the Sheriff’s communication personnel, myself or whatever, and it’s just a redundant system that will compliment what we currently have,” Thomas said during the meeting.
Moser, referring to Thomas’ description of Comal County’s system, called it a “night and day” difference.
Moser then mentions a discussion about getting Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to support the county’s goal of installing a system.
However, Moser said, when referring to the FEMA funding, “So there isn’t anything happening. It’s just a bunch of talking right now.”
ABC News said the county’s application was not selected for FEMA funding.
ABC News reported on Tuesday that a September 2016 report compiled by an engineering firm in response to a joint report from Kerr County and the City of Kerrville found the county had a “greater risk of flash flooding than most regions of the U.S.”
Moser told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that Kerr County considered paying for an upgrade to its flood warning system but ultimately decided not to include the item in its annual budget.
Local, state leaders already pushing for change
On Tuesday, KSAT spoke with Ray Howard, a sitting city councilmember for the City of Ingram, about how he plans to push for flood warning sirens following the deadly Fourth of July floods.
During the last state legislative session, House Bill 13 aimed to create a statewide emergency response plan. The bill included the addition of outdoor warning signs to more communities.
However, the bill died in the state Senate. Rep. Wes Virdell, a freshman in the Texas House whose district encompasses Kerr County, voted against the bill.
“I can tell you in hindsight, watching what it takes to deal with a disaster like this, my vote would probably be different now,” Virdell told The Texas Tribune.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt said he plans to file a new bill as soon as possible.
The bill would reinstate civil defense sirens with a focus on areas prone to flash floods in river valleys.
More recent coverage of the Hill Country floods on KSAT: