Kerr County is adopting an improved flood warning system, including outdoor sirens. Here’s everything you need to know.
It is impossible to know what could have truly prevented a tragedy from occurring, but contributing factors are often easy to identify. Such is the case in last year’s flood in Hill Country. Numerous things went wrong, yes, but loss of life may have been preventable if certain safety measures had been in place, like outdoor warning sirens. In an effort to protect people from experiencing future catastrophes, Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority are seeking to remedy this issue for residents.
On June 28, it was announced that a new flood warning system was currently being rolled out and would include mobile alerts, rain gauges, and sirens to create a multi-stepped process for getting people to safety when water levels begin to rise. The manager of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA), Tara Bushnoe, said at a meeting in Hunt, “Intense rain in our headwaters is what we’re trying to detect. And so that’s where the rain gauges are going to be concentrated.”
The hope is that this new system will be able to more accurately gather information about flood threats and inform both local officials and residents before conditions become dire. During that meeting, residents posed questions to Bushnoe about who is responsible when emergencies occur and who’s ultimately making these life-saving decisions. She replied, “Right now it’s UGRA and Kerr County.”
Kerry County is one of 29 counties in Hill Country to have signed specific agreements with the state of Texas to install outdoor warning sirens in key areas along the Guadalupe River, such as ones close to local campsites. Funding for those came from Senate Bill 3 which allocated $50 million for siren installation in flood-prone regions of the state. It was authored by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who immediately called for change following last year’s catastrophe.
Bettencourt said, “It was obvious that if sirens had gone off down the upper Guadalupe River shed as this wall of water was coming down, then people could have had a last-minute warning to get to higher ground.” It’s one of several efforts being made to improve the state’s flood warning systems. Installation of sirens, along with the development of the rain gauge and mobile alert portions of the system, are expected to be completed in upcoming months. An exact timeline has not been released as of writing.
Residents have expressed mixed reactions
Kerr County residents have expressed a variety of emotions regarding the new flood alert system and its projected effectiveness. Kathleen Cook told Texas Public Radio, “I really think this is just a band-aid that the politicians want to be able to say that yes, we have put sirens to save the people.” Rebecca Murphy’s take on the matter, though, is more complicated.
Speaking with the publication, Rebecca said, “The state—they did not fund warning systems; they knew we were at risk after Wimberley. You know, a study was done.” She added, “It’s just really sad to close the barn door after all the cattle have escaped.” Despite it feeling like too little too late, Rebecca said she does “feel like some efforts are being made to do the right thing,” which counts for something.
Other residents, like Randy Murphy, think that outdoor sirens are “better than nothing,” particularly in places where campsites are nestled along the Guadalupe River. His family owns property there, and Randy was thankfully able to get everyone to safety during last year’s floods, but he wonders how impactful this new warning system will really be in the midst of flash flood conditions. Of the sirens, Randy told CBS News, “You wouldn’t have been able to hear them in that kind of a storm.”
He’s in favor of adopting a system that incorporates cell phone and radio alerts in addition to the outdoor sirens. “If they said sirens are going to be it, we’re no further along today than we were back on July 4th,” Randy told the news outlet. This line of thinking more closely aligns with the proposed Mystic Alerts Act, which would use satellites to send out alerts during natural disasters to ensure as many people as possible receive the warning in time.
Countless Texas counties are without proper alert systems
According to CBS News’s research, 224 counties in Texas either have outdated emergency alert systems or don’t have any sirens at all. Their reporters also noted that the state doesn’t have a set standard for how or when the sirens should be used.
Part of the issue in terms of installing new ones in areas that don’t currently have any is ultimately down to cost. Each siren being installed in Kerry County runs a price tag of about $100,000 a piece, which are admittedly more expensive due to the integration and software systems they contain.
Other models are less expensive at $50,000 each, but many communities told CBS News’s I-Team that it’s still too steep of a price. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt’s Senate Bill 3 included funds to cover the costs of emergency system upgrades and additions in the areas that were hit hardest by the July 4, 2025 floods, but did not include money for other counties.
Nevertheless, Bettencourt thinks towns throughout Texas should try to find ways of funding these changes. “We don’t need to go through another natural disaster for everybody to realize that we need to get outdoor warning sirens up and running. Use our local monies wisely,” he said.
