Kerrville didn’t have weather sirens used by other cities

AUSTIN (KXAN) – At a Friday news conference, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said he “can’t answer” why camps weren’t evacuated but acknowledged: “We do not have a warning system.”

“We didn’t know this flood was coming,” Kelly told reporters. “Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming. We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what’s happened here. None whatsoever.”

Nicole Wilson, 42, watched the news conference from her home in San Antonio and was “blown away.” Wilson told KXAN two of her friends have daughters that were at Camp Mystic and one had a son at Camp La Junta. All three children are accounted for. One of the girl's cousins, however, is still missing, she said.

“Just not having those plans in place is crazy to think about,” she said.  “That they wouldn’t have risk mitigation in place when you’re surrounded by water.”

While the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and the city of Kerrville's Facebook paged warned to "move to higher ground immediately," campers at Camp Mystic likely wouldn't have seen that since cell phones, smart watches, iPads and anything with Wi-Fi capability were considered "unacceptable electronic devices" to bring and "not allowed," according to a recent list of instructions.

Wilson was born and raised in Kentucky, where she said outdoor weather sirens – primarily used for tornadoes – were common. On July 5, she started a Change.org online petition “urgently” calling for Kerrville and Kerr County to implement an outdoor early warning siren system for life-threatening emergencies, like flooding. So far, she said she's received "a lot of positive feedback on that."

“The tragic events at Camp Mystic and the devastating flooding along the Guadalupe River that happened in July are stark reminders that severe weather can strike with little notice,” Wilson wrote. “A well-placed siren system will provide critical extra minutes for families, schools, camps, businesses, and visitors to seek shelter and evacuate when needed. This is not just a wish – it is a necessary investment in public safety.”

Indeed, outdoor weather alert systems are not required by any federal or state law. The choice is left up to local leaders. On Friday morning, less than 20 miles from Kerrville, emergency sirens blasted in the unincorporated Kendall County community of Comfort, according to a published report, signaling “emergency conditions and a mandatory evacuation” as the Guadalupe River continued to rise. Sirens are typically activated by city or county officials, according to the NWS.

"I just think if they had five minutes [of warning time from a siren] longer, five to 10 minutes longer, and that's what those sirens give you .... and you know the counselors would have led them uphill ...I don't believe we'd be in the scenario right now where we're searching for those girls," said Wilson.

Cities that use sirens, like San Marcos -- which has 14 outdoor weather sirens to warn of floods, tornadoes and wildfires -- have previously touted the outdoor warning systems as a “vital tool” for emergency preparedness. The sirens, called an Outdoor Warning System, are designed to quickly and loudly notify a community of threats to public safety, including severe weather. Critics have pointed out the sirens can be expensive, require regular maintenance and are primarily designed to be heard outdoors. A single siren can cost an estimated $10,00 to $50,000 and multiple are sometimes needed.

Austin does not have a city-wide outdoor weather siren system. In 2022, a city spokesperson told KXAN the fastest way to get information out is with “the technology we have today” and there was a concern that sirens could “cause confusion.”

This past legislative session, lawmakers filed a bill that would have created a council to operate a grant program assisting local governments with acquiring emergency communications equipment. One of its tasks, if the bill had passed, would have been developing a statewide strategic plan that included "the use of outdoor warning sirens."

'We've been trying to get a new flood warning system here'

In 2018, Kerr County, along with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, applied for a $1 million grant for a flood warning system.

"That application was not selected, okay. That's the bad news," a commissioner said, according to Kerr County commissioner meeting minutes at the time.

Two years later, in 2020, according to Kerr County meeting minutes, that same commissioner said: "We've been trying to get a new flood warning system here."

The 2020 commissioner meeting is when Kerr County implemented IPAWS, or Integrated Public Alert & Warning System through FEMA, which is a free program offered through Kerr County's existing contract with CodeRed, a system it currently uses for mass emergency pre-recorded emergency telephone messages, according to Kerr County's website. The CodeRed system is also used in Kerrville with the caveat that it relies on White Pages data and residents should not "assume their number is included."

As of 2023, Kerr County Commissioners' Court meeting minutes show the county was still discussing grant options for flood mitigation assistance to include research on engineering and infrastructure for flood prevention measures.