Despite early warnings from both the National Weather Service and private forecaster AccuWeather, local officials and camp organizers failed to act as floodwaters tore through Texas Hill Country in the dead of night. The floods killed at least 89, with that number likely to rise.
The Guadalupe River, overrun with torrential rain, swept through town before sunrise. Survivors described it as a “pitch black wall of death.” Along with the dozen dead, several are missing, including children from Camp Mystic. Campers and residents weren’t evacuated. Emergency alerts came too late. Some didn’t come at all.
Thus far, the common refrain from Texas officials is the same, some variation of “no one saw this coming, there were no warnings.”
AccuWeather begs to differ. According to Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter, their systems issued an “imminent flash flooding” warning a full 30 minutes before the National Weather Service’s alert, both hitting hours before the worst of the storm. Flash flood watches had been posted as early as Thursday afternoon. By 4:03 a.m. Friday, the warnings had escalated to life-threatening emergency status.
So why didn’t anyone move? Why weren’t evacuation orders issued?
Texas Officials Face Scrutiny Over Lack of Evacuation Orders Before Deadly Flooding
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, whose own home sits on the Guadalupe, told PBS that the county doesn’t have a warning system. It could have, but a years-old proposal for sirens was scrapped because it would’ve been too expensive.
“The public reeled at the expense,” he said. Kerrville’s city manager claimed he didn’t notice anything wrong during a jog at 4 a.m., about an hour before floodwaters made roads impassable.
This wasn’t a freak event. Texas Hill Country is one of the most flash-flood-prone regions in the U.S. Local leaders knew this. Camp organizers should have known this. Weather officials were practically screaming it. But when the water rose, the system meant to protect people failed them.
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