SAN ANTONIO – One year after a deadly flood swept vehicles off the road near Perrin Beitel and Loop 410, families of the victims and city leaders say progress is underway, but visible safety upgrades remain difficult to see.
The flood killed 11 people in the Loop 410 and Perrin Beitel area when a wall of rain moved through, sending fast-moving water across the road.
Another victim was located several miles north of the Perrin Beitel search area. The 13th victim died near U.S. Highway 90 in the Leon Creek area.
Some victims were on the phone with their loved ones as they died.
Memorials have been placed near Briar Glen and Perrin Beitel, where family members and neighbors continue to stop and reflect.
Councilman Marc Whyte (D10), whose district includes the frontage road off of which cars were washed, said “the city is on this.”
“We have a commitment from our city manager’s office to make sure that these low area crossings do not pose a danger to the public moving forward, and it’s incumbent upon the mayor and City Council now to hold the city manager’s office to that and get these things fixed,” Whyte said.
In November, an outside investigation into the flood provided new insight into what went wrong. It included multiple recommendations to mitigate flood-related risks and improve safety.
In a May 20 memo updating council members on the progress on the recommendations, none appeared to be completely done.
A sign on the frontage road warns drivers “road may flood,” and another marks the feet above the road to show the depth of any floodwaters, but flashing warning signs have not yet been installed.
The memo also indicates a gauge hadn’t been installed yet at the site. However, “protocol has been established” to close the frontage road in case of flooding in the watershed.
A suggestion to actually raise the frontage road out of the floodplain also still appears in early stages. The memo notes the Public Works Department is working on a study “to evaluate alternatives,” which should be finished this summer and shared with the Texas Department of Transportation.
“There’s a lot of things that are in progress, and again, not all under — within our bailiwick, but I mean, the work is ongoing,” Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones told KSAT.
The city is also performing an audit on its disaster warning system to determine if it’s “effectively designed and operated to ensure timely, reliable, and accessible emergency notifications to the public.”
But for families who lost a loved one, any improvements come too late.
Stevie Richards, 42, was one of those victims. His wife, Angel, said she’s slowly healing.
“I feel like nothing was done to prevent something like this from happening,” said Angel Richards. “So it makes me angry at the same time. It’s just hard for me to steer away from what could have been done differently. And then to pass through the area and see that there’s still something like that can happen again, if it rains like that again — it’s disturbing.”
The city, Bexar County, and San Antonio River Authority have also been collaborating on a “NextGen” flood warning system. That includes reviewing existing gauges and sensors, adding more, and putting them into a single system managed by SARA.
The gauge data feeds into the Bexar Flood map, which SARA General Manager Derek Boese says integrates with Waze and Google Maps.
“So if you’re using these navigation tools, you will be alerted of low-water crossings while driving and can reroute,” Boese said at a May 19 media event.
Bexar County has put $21 million toward the system.
“We can go build low water crossings, but at the end of the day protecting human life is going to be our most critical and most valuable investment on that front,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody told KSAT.
More Perrin Beitel flood coverage on KSAT: