Kerr County, flood and Texas
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Using Fredericksburg as a proxy for the region, the average July rainfall over the last about 40 years is 2.2 inches. But most of the time, July seems to be closer to either extreme, whether it’s less than an inch or more than four.
Since 2016, the topic of a "flood warning system" for Kerr County has come up at 20 different county commissioners' meetings, according to minutes. The idea for a system was first introduced by Kerr County Commissioner Thomas Moser and Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told CBS News Monday that the state of Texas could pay for storm sirens along the Guadalupe River.
Kerr County applied for federal grants to build a warning system to protect residents from flash floods. Under the Trump Administration, that kind of funding is drying up.
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The Texas Tribune on MSNWeather warnings gave officials a 3 hour, 21 minute window to save lives in Kerr County. What happened then remains unclear.Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.
2don MSN
Kerr County, Texas, lacked a “last mile” warning mechanism that could have saved residents before the deadly floods devastated the area, including a children’s summer camp, killing more than 80 people.
SAN ANTONIO — Five days after the waters of the Guadalupe River rose and overwhelmed much of Kerr Country on July Fourth, search and recovery efforts continue as the community picks up the pieces of one of the state's worst natural disasters in years.
Questions mounted about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were in the scenic area long known to locals as “flash flood alley.”
A "Basic Plan" for emergency response for three Texas counties, including Kerr County, labeled flash flooding as "highly likely" to occur, with a "major" impact on public health and safety, according to an ABC News review of a page on the Kerrville city website.
Four days after flash floods in central Texas killed more than 100 people, Kerr County officials took questions from reporters about when they knew the floods would pose a deadly threat, and did not to commit to a timeline of their official response.