Out of the five counties along the Guadalupe River, only Kerr County, the one that was most affected by the floods, did not have emergency sirens. The death toll of the Texas flash floods has now risen to over 100, and search and rescue teams are still on the lookout for missing people. Authorities are still waiting to answer questions about whether there were enough weather warnings in place in Kerr County, to alert the residents to evacuate.
Meanwhile, a former official revealed that there had been debates on the issue of installing the sirens in 2017. However, pushback from the residents ended the discussions.
“The community was not in favour of having sirens located in a lot of locations,” said Tom Moser, a former Kerr County Commissioner who served from 2012 to 2021, while speaking to KHOU. The reasoning was that the siren could go off unintentionally or accidentally. “And that was not desirable on the part of some people,” he added.
Kerr County only has a sparse population of about 50,000 residents. Meeting minutes from one of the many debates held in the county showed that the commissioners decided not to include sirens in a $980,000 federal grant because “too many people said they did not want sirens.” The money was instead spent on more flood gauges and sensors to monitor high-water crossings. Moser said the grant was not approved in the end, as the county struggled to find funding to put up a major flood warning system. He said, “In hindsight, could we have done more, perhaps so.”
The other four counties, Comal, Kendall, Guadalupe and Gonzales, all have outdoor emergency sirens which worked during the floods. Kerr County currently only has a mobile or email “Code Red” emergency notification system. The county also suffers from poor cell service.
Nicole Wilson, a mother whose two children have attended summer camps in the Texas hill country, expressed her concern saying, “It just blew my mind that they didn’t have (emergency sirens) for this area.” She has started an online petition for emergency sirens in Kerr County.
Moser said, “I think now with this event, the good thing will be, it will be a high priority for the nation.”
State officials pointed out that the forecasts did not accurately predict the intensity of the rainfall. Warnings for potential flash floods were issued only a few hours before the water reached its peak at night. The event is considered to be one of the most catastrophic floods in the “Flash Flood Alley.”
