As state and native officers in Texas have come beneath scrutiny over the shortage of sirens to warn folks of impending flash flooding on the Guadalupe River that killed greater than 100 folks, information reviewed by ABC Information present authorities of one of many hardest hit counties have had discussions about implementing such an alert system for practically a decade.
The harmful flooding hit within the early morning hours of the Fourth of July, inflicting the Guadalupe River in Kerr County to rise by 26 ft in lower than an hour, spilling its banks and flooding a number of summer season camps and RV parks alongside the winding river.
On Monday, the loss of life toll from the flooding climbed to greater than 100, in line with officers. At the least 84 of the deaths occurred in Kerr County, together with 27 youngsters at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer season camp close to the banks of the Guadalupe, authorities mentioned.
A volunteer aids in search and rescue operations close to the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept by the world, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas.
Eli Hartman/AP
Ten women and a counselor from Camp Mystic remained unaccounted for on Monday as search-and-rescue efforts stretched into their fourth day.
For the reason that disaster, native officers have confronted questions on how warnings had been despatched out to the neighborhood, why evacuations weren’t ordered in low-lying areas and why there have been no audible warning programs to alert campers alongside the Guadalupe.
“There ought to have been sirens right here,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick advised Fox Information on Monday, including that the topic will seemingly come up in a particular session of the state legislature to investigate what occurred through the flooding.
Chairs lie inside a broken room following flooding on the Guadalupe River, in Camp Mystic, Hunt, Texas, July 7, 2025.
Marco Bello/Reuters
Patrick added, “Had we had sirens round this space, up and down — the identical kind of sirens they’ve in Israel when there’s an assault coming, that may have blown very loudly — it is attainable that may have saved a few of these lives.”
‘I’ve spent hours in these helicopters pulling youngsters out of bushes’
Data reviewed by ABC Information present that most of the similar questions have been beneath dialogue, particularly in Kerr County, for practically a decade.
The minutes from a March 28, 2016, meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners’ Courtroom, present that former Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer pushed the fee to improve the county’s flood-warning system. On the time, Hierholzer advised the fee that he was in favor of inserting high-decibel out of doors sirens alongside the river that would go off and be heard from a distance of three miles when water gauges indicated flooding, in line with the web minutes of the assembly.
In line with the assembly minutes, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, then-Commissioner Tom Moser mentioned there are state-of-the-art warning programs, together with these with sirens, in different components of the state, “though this [Kerr County] might be one of many highest flood-prone areas in your complete state.”
A crew of firefighters from Ciudad Acuna, left, assist in search and rescue efforts close to the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept by the world, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas.
Eli Hartman/AP
Hierholzer advised the fee that the sirens, along with the county’s CodeRED emergency notification system, would work to rapidly unfold the phrase of imminent hazard, in line with the assembly minutes.
In that assembly, in line with the minutes, Hierholzer raised what he known as the “most necessary” problem — that of warning the summer season camps alongside the Guadalupe, recalling a 1987 flash flood by which 10 youngsters from the Pot O’ Gold Ranch Christian camp in Consolation, Texas, had been killed trying to evacuate the camp in a bus.
“I’ve spent hours in these helicopters pulling youngsters out of bushes,” Hierholzer advised the fee, in line with the assembly minutes.
On the time, Hierholzer added that lots of people within the county weren’t signed up for CodeRED alerts and that it was tough to get folks to enroll in the telephone alerts.
“So sure, you want each. You want the sirens, and also you want CodeRED to strive to ensure we’ll notify everyone we will when it is arising,” Hierholzer mentioned, in line with the assembly minutes.
Texas Division of Public Security Troopers load a recovered physique into the again of a automobile close to the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept by the world, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas.
Eli Hartman/AP
Moser, in line with the assembly minutes, advised his fellow commissioners that upgrading the warning system to incorporate sirens was “not massively costly,” including that the items would value round $40,000 every.
The Kerr County Commissioners’ Courtroom utilized for a virtually $1 million FEMA grant, in line with the assembly minutes. The county’s software was not chosen, nevertheless it was not instantly clear why.
Moser couldn’t be reached for remark by ABC Information on Monday. He advised The Wall Road Journal on Sunday that the county thought of paying for the improve of its flood warning system, however ultimately determined to not embrace it in its annual price range.
“It was most likely simply, I hate to say the phrase, priorities. Attempting to not increase taxes,” Moser advised the newspaper.
Reached by ABC Information by telephone on Monday, Hierholzer declined to touch upon the statements he made to the commissioners greater than 9 years in the past.
“That is most likely one of many worst disasters Kerr County has ever seen. So proper now, I don’t wish to get into all this type of political stuff — what we might’ve, would’ve, ought to’ve performed,” Hierholzer advised ABC Information.
Officers concede they had been caught off guard
Kerr County officers mentioned throughout a information convention on Saturday that they had been caught off guard by the torrential rains that precipitated the Guadalupe River to rise to near-historic ranges in a matter of minutes.
“We did not know this flood was coming,” Kerr County Choose Rob Kelly mentioned. “We’ve got floods on a regular basis. That is probably the most harmful river valley in america, and we take care of floods frequently. When it rains, we get water. We had no purpose to consider that this was going to be something like what’s occurred right here, none in anyway.”
However throughout a information convention on Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned the state started making ready for the storm final Wednesday by pre-positioning belongings and assets in flood-prone areas of the state, together with Kerr County.
Chief W. Nim Kidd of the Texas Division of Emergency Administration mentioned alerts had been additionally despatched out.
A search and rescue workforce seems for folks alongside the Guadalupe River close to Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, July 7, 2025.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP through Getty Photos
“From a technical perspective, there have been a number of warning programs which can be on the market, and all of us can select to enroll in warning programs in sure areas relying on the native authorities that they are in and the best way their system works,” Kidd mentioned through the governor’s press convention. However he added that some locations have spotty cellular phone reception.
Kidd added, “There may be every kind of alert programs which can be despatched, and we all know that some normal messaging was despatched early, some pressing warnings had been despatched at numerous instances. However simply sending the message isn’t the identical as receiving the message, having a plan to do one thing if you obtain the message after which the power to implement that plan.”
Throughout a information convention on Monday, Kerrville Metropolis Supervisor Dalton Rice mentioned workers at among the summer season camps on the Guadalupe had been monitoring the rising river at 3:30 a.m. on the day of the flood and managed to maneuver campers to greater floor.
Requested by reporters why necessary evacuations weren’t issued by the town or county, Rice mentioned, “Evacuations are a fragile stability as a result of if you happen to evacuate too late, you then threat placing buses, or automobiles, or automobiles, or campers on roads … making an attempt to get them out, which might make it more difficult as a result of these flash floods occur in a short time.”
When pressed on why evacuations weren’t introduced far upfront of the storm, Rice added, “It is like disasters in Texas in every single place — it’s extremely robust to make these calls as a result of what we additionally do not wish to do is cry wolf.”
