Texas to Address Flood Warning Systems, Say Governor & Lt. Governor
Legislature meets on June 21, 2025
(This article has been updated to report that flood warning & response measures were officially added to the agenda of the upcoming Special Session of the Texas Legislature by Governor Greg Abbott on July 9, 2025)
As the death toll from the July 4, 2025, flood in Kerr County topped 100, with more than 170 people still missing, Texas Governor Greg Abbott says funding for counties to purchase warning systems such as outdoor sirens to prevent future tragedies is "going to be something that will be looked at (in the special session).”
That Special Legislative Session begins on July 21, 2025. On Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Governor Abbott announced that he has instructed state lawmakers to consider the following issues (in addition to the original reasons for which he called the Special Session):
FLOOD WARNING SYSTEMS: Legislation to improve early warning systems and other preparedness infrastructure in flood-prone areas throughout Texas.
FLOOD EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS: Legislation to strengthen emergency communications and other response infrastructure in flood-prone areas throughout Texas.
RELIEF FUNDING FOR HILL COUNTRY FLOODS: Legislation to provide relief funding for response to and recovery from the storms which began in early July 2025, including local match funding for jurisdictions eligible for FEMA public assistance.
NATURAL DISASTER PREPARATION & RECOVERY: Legislation to evaluate and streamline rules and regulations to speed preparedness for and recovery from natural disasters.
Kerr County had no system to warn campers and others vacationing during a holiday weekend along the Guadalupe River to evacuate to higher ground after torrential rains sent a wall of water toward them well before sunrise on Independence Day.
The disaster that followed was eerily similar to another deadly flood that also occurred in Kerr County on July 16, 1987. Flash floodwaters on the same river inundated Christian campers at the Pot O’ Gold Ranch, which was hosting 300 children. Thirty-three were pulled from the river, but ten teenagers drowned.
To say that floods are frequent within the Guadalupe River Basin is an understatement. According to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, major floods have occurred before, in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991, and 1997.
And now, with two catastrophic floods killing a large number of child campers in Kerr County within less than forty years of each other, questions are - understandably -being asked about why no evacuation warning system has been implemented there.
Downstream of Kerr County, Comal County has installed a network of sirens connected to automatic flood gauges to warn people along both the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers to evacuate. The warning system is financed by user fees collected from recreational businesses, camps, and hotels that draw tourists to the river by the "Water Oriented Recreation District of Comal County" (W.O.R.D.).
The Texas Legislature approved the creation of the district, which spans more than 30 miles of the Guadalupe River, through a bill passed in 1987, subject to approval by Comal County voters, which occurred in 1988.
However, no similar district was created to fund such a system in Kerr County. With a population of a third of Comal County's (fewer than 54,000), Kerr County Judge Robb Kelly told the Associated Press that funding one through its meager tax base has been a non-starter. “We’ve looked into it before … The public reeled at the cost,” Kelly said.
In 2016, for example, the county approved spending $50,000 to hire an engineering firm to assess what would be needed to design and install a warning system. Even that was too much for one Kerr County Commissioner.
“I think this whole thing is a little extravagant for Kerr County, with sirens and such,” H.A. “Buster” Baldwin said. “Taking these funds out of special projects from the road and bridge department ticks me off a little bit.” The idea of a warning system didn't advance beyond the study.
And during this year's regular session of the State Legislature (as The Texas Rural Reporter on Substack was first to report), a bill that could have provided funding for warning systems for Kerr and other Texas counties failed to pass. Even State Representative Wes Virdell, who represents Kerr County, voted against it, something he now regrets.
“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.
The bill could presumably be revived in the upcoming Special Session. Still, a spokesperson for Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick warns that, as initially written, HB-13 wouldn't provide an immediate solution to the need for warning systems. Under the bill's provisions, local grant money would be distributed over a period of up to 10 years.
On Monday. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick joined those calling for funding of flood warning systems.
“The state needs to step up and pay for these,” Patrick said, The Dallas Morning News reported. “Had we had sirens along this area, the same type of sirens that they have in Israel when there’s an attack coming, that would have blown very loudly, it’s possible that that would have saved some of these lives.”
Meanwhile, in Kerr County, a grim search for missing flood victims continues.
Should the State of Texas provide funds for evacuation warning systems along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County and other areas prone to flash flooding?
Share your opinion in the comments on this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Actually to address why we don’t have a warning system. I live in Kerrville, the warning I got were after 6 am, by that time the river had already taken lives and destroyed others. We quite frequently get flash flood warnings. But this time they came way too late. What we needed was to be notified when the flooding started and to have evacuation warnings. Center Point, a few miles down the Guadalupe River and Hwy 27, a much smaller town than Kerrville, has a siren system to alert those in town to evacuate if they lived near the river. We don’t even have that. Maybe many don’t realize this, but Kerrville is a destination for very wealthy people, many come here to retire. Yet citizens won’t pay extra to install a warning system. This is deep MAGA land where people don’t want to fork over money if they don’t benefit from it. My hope is that residents here in Kerr County vote to support the installation of a warning system, so tragedies like the July 4th flood and loss of life never, ever happens again. I have posted some pictures on my Substack from this evening. It’s just devastating.