Following Texas floods, warning sirens get renewed attention

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Following this weekend's devastating Texas floods that killed more than 100 people, and left at least two dozen still missing, outdoor warning sirens are now getting renewed attention.

"You want to try to get as many chances to get the public's attention that trouble is on the way," said State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.

On Monday, Bettencourt announced he's drafting a bill -- to be filed at the "earliest opportunity" -- that would place civil defense sirens in flash-flood prone river valleys like the Upper Guadalupe River.

"This phone is too overloaded," Bettencourt said, taking out his cell phone and holding it up. "You get bank alerts, and fraud alerts, and security alerts, and alerts of every kind. So, I was thinking we need to go back to old technology."

Loud sirens, called Outdoor Warning Systems, could save lives as part of a layered approach, Bettencourt said, that also includes weather radios and mobile alerts. Critics point out sirens are expensive, require routine maintenance and can cause confusion.

On Monday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz told NBC News that flood sirens, and resources for smaller counties to respond and prepare for disasters, will likely be discussed at the federal level.

"Look, I think that's certainly a discussion that will flow in the weeks and months ahead," Cruz said. "I think we need to look at what happened, what transpired and how we could have moved more quickly to get people who are vulnerable out of harm's way in particular those kids in the cabins by the river."

"How we make that happen, I think, is a very reasonable discussion," he added. "It should be a bipartisan discussion. And, I expect it to happen at the local level, the state level and the federal level."

'It's well worth it'

In May, a National Weather Service flash flood warning triggered the sound of a wailing siren in San Marcos.

"Oh, it's really loud," San Marcos Emergency Management Coordinator Rob Fitch told KXAN on Monday at Raymond Lucio Park, where there is a siren. "You can hear it a couple miles away."

San Marcos has 14 of these outdoor warning systems. They are designed to quickly sound the alarm during severe weather for people who are outside and might not have access to mobile alerts. The city's website touts them as a "vital tool for emergency preparedness."

"Along the river, we do have flood gauges," Fitch explained. "And, when they get to a certain part, we know that we have to set off the alarm."

"Having the alert, through the system like this, can save lives and is well worth it," he added. "It may cost a lot in the beginning, but, in the long run, it's well worth it."

'We've been trying to get a new Flood Warning System'

Warning sirens are not required -- and were not in Kerr County -- even as County Judge Rob Kelly acknowledged over the weekend: "This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis."

Over the weekend, a KXAN investigation first revealed that from 2017 up until this past May, officials there discussed developing a flood warning system. In 2018, the county was denied a $1 million grant.

"We've been trying to get a new Flood Warning System here," the county's emergency management coordinator, W.B. "Dub" Thomas, said in 2020, according to the Kerr County Commissioners' Court meeting minutes. "We haven't been able to do it."

Instead, the county uses a "Code Red" automated text alert system. However, Kerrville, which uses the same system, warns it relies on data from the White Pages and "no one should assume their number is included."

'Improve flood warning to the public' brought up weeks ago

Less than two months before the devastating flood occurred in Kerrville, Tara Bushnoe, the general manager at the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, requested an opportunity to present Kerr County commissioners "on the development of a Flood Warning System" for the county.

According to the Kerr County Commissioners' Court meeting agenda, Bushnoe's request for a five-minute presentation on May 12 stated a firm was selected to "develop a web-based dashboard that will be accessible to defined users to improve flood warning to the public."

The dashboard, to be developed during the next year, is described as bringing "real time rainfall and stream flow data as well as flood inundation mapping and predictions."

It's unclear whether the presentation was given in executive session.

KXAN reached out to Bushnoe to learn more and will update this story when we receive a response.

Special session to address Kerrville

On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters "the way to respond to what happened in Kerrville is going to be a topic for the special session to address."

KXAN investigator Kelly Wiley asked Abbott about a lack of funding for sirens statewide.

"Well," Abbott responded, "it's going to be something that will be looked at."

“As you kind of pointed out, these camps go back almost 100 years, and they are familiar with the water in the area, probably better than anybody else, and they have their own ways in which to deal with warnings that would involve children, sometimes as young as eight or nine years old," Abbott added. "And, we need to evaluate what they know, how they respond, what they need. And that's why it's going to be good to have a session with all members working together, that would bring different perspectives, because the reality also is this, and that is what's needed in that river basin, at that location, could be far different than what's needed in some other river basin across the state.”

The special session starts July 21. The governor's office would not say if this will come up then or at a later date.