Flooding is nothing new to the Hill Country region of Texas, where, in 1987, heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to swell and spill over, stranding more than 30 people who needed to be rescued — and killing 10 teens from the Pot O’ Gold Christian Camp.
In the decades since, local officials have sought public and private grants to prevent future flooding tragedies, according to reports — raising questions about how Friday’s devastating storm surge along the Guadalupe took so many lives.
A $1 million grant approved in 2017 funded the upgrade of high-water detection systems along the Guadalupe River, and paid for the installation of 10 new gauges.
Three years ago, PepsiCo and Frito-Lay awarded a $1.2 million grant to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, or the GBRA, which strives to conserve and protect the water resources of the Guadalupe River Basin.
The GBRA was established by the Texas Legislature in 1933.
Two 60-year-old Goff Bayou radial gates, which regulated periodic flooding and high tides, were replaced with the grant.
“The structure’s resiliency to withstand extreme weather conditions and climate variability will be enhanced,” the companies boasted in a news release.
Officials have also been restoring area wetlands as a way to enhance natural flood management, and money has been spent on improved investments in drainage systems and other flood control infrastructure.
But the efforts apparently failed to prevent Friday’s deadly floods, in which 32 people, including 14 children, were killed when the Guadalupe again surged over its banks.
Texas officials pointed fingers at the National Weather Service, which they said issued forecasts earlier in the week downplaying the impending storm and its severity.
“The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3 to 6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4 to 8 inches in the Hill Country,” offered Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd at a news conference Friday.
“The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts,” Kidd added.
The post Recent flooding follows measures to mitigate flooding — so what went wrong? appeared first on New York Post.
