For many years that the Kerr Area Payment invested talking about whether to execute a brand-new flooding caution system, some commissioners recommended that sticking to “river calls,” a casual phone chain of kinds made use of by summertime camps, would certainly be far better than setting up brand-new flooding alarms, blinking lights or indicators.
” The camps have actually had a great system– if there’s an increase, they’re telephoning their rivals or associates down river and allowing them understand what occurred,” stated commissioner Kerr Area Commissioner Bob Reeves, according to mins of a 2016 conference, almost a years prior to ruining floodings left at the very least 100 dead over this previous weekend break. “It’s casual as you stated, however it’s been a great system.”
” They alert each various other, we alert them, they alert, there’s a great deal of casual points that truly do function real well,” stated previous Kerr Area Constable W.R. Hierholzer stated at the time, although he kept in mind the river can “turn up in an immediate.”
At an additional conference in 2017, a various commissioner stated the “river calling” system in between camps “still functions” and included that “the idea of our stunning Kerr Area having these damn alarms going off in the center of [the] evening, I’m mosting likely to need to begin consuming once again to bear with y’ all.”
Yet to others, the status showed up undependable at finest: “We have a caution system around that might or might not function,” Kerr Area Commissioner Jonathan Letz said in 2016.
” My sixth sense on this and it’s type of a strange method to claim this however I assume we have an obligation to check out what we have,” the commissioner proceeded, later on keeping in mind, “We are extremely flooding vulnerable, we understand that.”
Some commissioners kept in mind that neighboring regions, consisting of those with reduced flooding threat than Kerr, had actually currently executed updated flooding alerting systems.
Autos are seen after they were removed along the Guadalupe River after a flash flooding brushed up via the location, July 5, 2025, in Quest, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP
According to records of compensation conferences, Kerr Area Commissioners determined to get FEMA bucks offered by Head of state Barack Obama’s calamity affirmation in 2017. Yet a region court and some commissioners expressed discontent that such financing would certainly need to originate from the Obama management and reviewed feasible leave approaches if they were to obtain a FEMA give.
Beyond looking for the FEMA financing, one commissioner stated, “Our various other alternative is do not do anything, which is an alternative. I suggest we can simply stick to what we have.” This includes their system of 20 High Water Discovery System crossings– 9 preserved by Texas Division of Transport and 11 preserved by GBRA.
An additional commissioner sustained looking for the give however stated he intended to explain that “this is a type of a straw guy to place in the application due to the fact that we need to have it, however it’s mosting likely to be re-looked at in the future.”
Commissioners recognized that this was “not usually the method we would certainly do points,” however that the procedure needed to be hurried to fulfill the target date of the Obama Management finishing.
Kerr Area was not picked by the Texas Department of Emergency situation Administration to obtain government funds the state obtained from FEMA’s Danger Reduction Help Program.
