Cost Concerns Blocked Texas Flood Safety System Plans/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Texas officials repeatedly failed to fund a $1 million flood warning system, despite deadly floods threatening Kerr County’s camps and residents. Political disagreements, rejected grants, and cost worries delayed action for over a decade. Catastrophic July 4 floods killed at least 120, fueling anger and demands for immediate safety measures.
Quick Look
- Texas agencies failed for a decade to fund $1 million flood warning system.
- Disagreements and budget concerns derailed flood sensors near Kerr County camps.
- Flooding on July 4 killed at least 120, fueling calls for new safety measures.
Texas Missed Funding Flood System That Could Have Saved Lives
Deep Look
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — For more than a decade, Texas state and local agencies failed to secure roughly $1 million for a flood warning system that experts say could have helped prevent the catastrophic flooding that killed at least 120 people, including dozens of children, in Kerr County over the Fourth of July.
Despite repeated warnings, efforts to install flood monitoring equipment near Camp Mystic — where many campers were swept away — stalled due to funding shortfalls, political disagreements, and missed grant opportunities.
The proposed system would have cost about the same as two years of courthouse security in Kerr County, or roughly 1.5% of the county’s annual budget. Meanwhile, neighboring communities like Comfort installed sirens and flood alerts that helped evacuate residents successfully during floods.
Missed Opportunities and Bureaucratic Delays
After deadly floods in 2015 reignited debate over flood safety, Kerr County commissioners proposed installing sensors to monitor river levels without sirens to avoid noise concerns. Yet local officials balked at funding the project alone, and the city of Kerrville declined to chip in $50,000 toward a joint grant application.
Further setbacks came when Texas’ emergency management agency twice rejected Kerr County’s funding requests due to incomplete applications and later prioritized regions devastated by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
The Texas Water Development Board later offered a $50,000 grant and a $950,000 interest-free loan through the state’s flood infrastructure fund, but the Upper Guadalupe River Authority declined the offer, calling the loan terms inadequate.
Tragic Consequences of Inaction
Without a flood monitoring system, Kerr County was left defenseless when torrential rain sent the Guadalupe River surging in the early hours of July 4. Sheriff Larry Leitha has promised answers but asked for patience as the community grieves.
Local residents, however, are demanding accountability. Nicole Wilson, a San Antonio mother who pulled her daughters from camp just before the floods, has launched a petition urging Kerr County to finally install warning sirens.
“There simply can’t be the answer of ‘no’ this time,” she said.
Ingram City Council member Raymond Howard, who lives along the Guadalupe River, expressed disbelief at the county’s inaction.
“This is lives. This is families. This is heartbreaking,” Howard said.
State officials say they are now committed to funding emergency sirens where needed. A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick confirmed that the Texas Legislature, scheduled for a special session later this month, will address funding for flood mitigation projects.
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