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TX Couldn't Find $1M for Warning System07/10 06:08
Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed
opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert a disaster like
the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of others in Kerr County
on the Fourth of July.
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and
local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to
avert a disaster like the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of
others in Kerr County on the Fourth of July.
The agencies repeatedly failed to secure roughly $1 million for a project to
better protect the county's 50,000 residents and thousands of youth campers and
tourists who spend time along the Guadalupe River in an area known as
"flash-flood alley." The plan, which would have installed flood monitoring
equipment near Camp Mystic, cost about as much as the county spends on
courthouse security every two years, or 1.5% of its annual budget.
Meanwhile, other communities had moved ahead with sirens and warning systems
of their own. In nearby Comfort, a long, flat-three minute warning sound
signifying flood danger helped evacuate the town of 2,000 people as practiced.
Previous floods provided warnings
A deadly 2015 Memorial Day flood in Kerr County rekindled debate over
whether to install a flood monitoring system and sirens to alert the public to
evacuate when the river rose to dangerous levels. Some officials, cognizant of
a 1987 flood that killed eight people on a church camp bus, thought it was
finally time.
But the idea soon ran into opposition. Some residents and elected officials
opposed the installation of sirens, citing the cost and noise that they feared
would result from repeated alarms.
County commissioners sought compromise. They moved forward with a plan for a
warning system without sirens, which would improve flood monitoring with a
series of sensors but leave it up to local authorities to alert the public.
They didn't want to pay for it on their own but found little help elsewhere.
The county's largest city, Kerrville, declined to participate in a joint
grant application that would have required a $50,000 contribution. The state's
emergency management agency twice passed over the county's request for hazard
mitigation funding, citing a deficiency in the application and then backing
communities ravaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
The state's flood infrastructure fund later offered an interest-free loan
for the project -- but that plan was seen as too stingy and turned down by the
agency in charge of managing the watershed.
A failure to act
Without the flood monitoring system, the county was left vulnerable when
rains pounded the area in the early morning hours of July 4 and the river
rapidly rose.
"There wasn't enough fight in them, and there needs to be more fight this
time," said Nicole Wilson, a San Antonio mother who pulled her daughters out of
an area camp ahead of the flooding and who launched an online petition calling
on Kerr County to install the sirens. "Whether it's a combination of city,
state and federal funding, there simply can't be the answer of 'no' this time."
Local authorities and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have urged the public not to
point fingers after the flooding, which killed at least 120 people and left
scores more reported missing.
"I would be willing to talk about it but not yet. It's just too raw right
now," said Glenn Andrew, a former Kerrville city council member who voted in
2017 to pull the city out of the grant proposal for the project. "My preference
is to look forward to the future."
A spokesperson for Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Wednesday that lawmakers,
who begin a special session later this month, would approve funding to cover
such projects in the future.
"The state will provide emergency warning sirens where needed," Patrick
spokesperson Steven Aranyi wrote in an email.
But some anger is starting to boil over. Raymond Howard, a city council
member in Ingram, Texas, in Kerr County, said Wednesday it's "unfathomable"
that county officials never took action despite repeatedly talking about it.
"That's just mind-boggling," he said. "It's unfathomable that they never
worked on it. If it comes down to funding, they're constantly raising taxes on
us for other stuff. This is more important. This is lives. This is families.
This is heartbreaking."
Howard, who lives in a home along the Guadalupe River, said any action now
would come too late for those who have died.
Another chance ended in diverted funds
Kerr County requested a flood warning system grant in 2016 through the Texas
Division of Emergency Management's hazard mitigation program, which is
supported by Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to help communities
reduce their risk.
But that application was rejected because it did not meet federal
specifications, including one that required the county have a current hazard
mitigation plan on file, Texas emergency management spokesperson Wes Rapaport
said.
The county hired a consultant and an engineering firm to help prepare
another application for the project for the next funding cycle in 2017. The
system outlined in the county's preliminary plan would provide "mass
notifications to citizens about high water levels and flooding conditions
throughout Kerr County."
At targeted low water crossings within Kerr County, sensors connected to
monitoring stations would transmit a signal that would notify local officials
and emergency management agencies of the rising water levels. Officials
envisioned using that information to alert the public and call their contacts
at youth camps and RV parks during emergencies.
But after Hurricane Harvey caused record flooding in Houston and other areas
of Texas in August 2017, "funding was distributed to counties that fell under
the disaster declaration, which Kerr County was not included on," Rapaport said.
The City of Kerrville's council voted 4-0 to decline to participate in the
grant proposal, balking at its planned $50,000 contribution, minutes show.
Texas voters created a new funding source for such projects in 2019, backing
a constitutional amendment to create a state flood infrastructure fund with an
initial $800 million investment.
The Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which manages the watershed in Kerr
County, revived the project last year with a $1 million initial request for
funding. The Texas Water Development Board, which oversees the fund, offered a
$50,000 grant and a $950,000 interest-free loan for the rest of the project.
The river authority declined to pursue the funding, saying the terms were
not favorable.
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