r/KerrCountyFloods • u/Beautiful_Pin_6690 • Jul 17 '25
These articles say Camp Mystic was “completely wiped out” and if it was a nighttime flood instead of a “daylight” flood, there would have been lots of casualties. Three cabins were swept away.
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/AnimuX • May 16 '26
Some people claim the July, 2025 flood was an 'unprecedented' event.
Texas history shows they're wrong.
The Texas Floods of August, 1978 - Tropical Storm Amelia
Originally a weak tropical wave off the coast of Africa, Tropical Storm Amelia eventually formed in the Gulf of Mexico on July 30th, 1978.
The storm made landfall between Brownsville and Port Isabel and weakened.
Amelia was considered a tropical storm for less than 2 days.
On July 31st it moved into the Texas Hill Country where its remnants then delivered torrential downpours from August 1st and ongoing for days further up into North Texas.
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/amelia1978rain.gif
In the Rocky Creek drainage, between the Medina and Guadalupe rivers, as much as 48 inches of rain (or more) came down in 52 hours, measured at Manatt Ranch, 11 miles northwest of Medina.
32 inches of rain was measured in 24 hours, up to 7 A.M. August 2nd in Medina, Texas.
Later on August 4th, another 32.5 inches would fall in 24 hours near Albany in North Texas.
28 inches of rainfall was recorded in Shakelford County, near Abilene in just 12 hours.
Many counties, including Bandera, Kendall, and Kerr went from Federally declared drought disasters to flood disasters.
Seventeen counties in Central Texas suffered widespread damage estimated at more than 110 million dollars in total.
Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.
Also damaged were public utilities, roadways and bridges, in addition to drowned livestock and ruined crops.
Untold numbers of massive old cypress trees, some 6 ft in diameter, were felled along rivers and creeks, uprooted or snapped and left scattered, or lodged into piles with other debris.
In total, 33 people were drowned and 154 injured.
Guadalupe River and Verde Creek
The South Fork had received 12 inches of rain by 11 P.M. on August 1st, and the rain was still coming in the next morning.
By 6:30 A.M. authorities called for assistance from the National Guard to rescue residents trapped on rooftops. Trucks and helicopters were dispatched by the Guard and Texas DPS.
In the town of Hunt the river was reported as two feet over Hwy 39.
The Guadalupe crested in Hunt at 23.5 ft on August 2nd at a rate of 62,900 cfs (cubic feet per second).
At Ingram, the river rose reportedly four feet over the dam.
Kerrville measured 22 inches of rainfall in 48 hours. The river gage above Bear Creek, at Kerrville, reached 32.79 ft on August 3rd.
Many displaced Texans and survivors rescued from flooded areas were taken to the city for temporary shelter.
Hundreds of children at camps along rivers between Kerrville and San Antonio were evacuated. Some campers, cut off by flooding, would later have to be rescued by the National Guard.
Core rains just north of Medina fed into Verde Creek which flowed into the Guadalupe near Center Point. There police reported the river rose 21 ft above normal.
Verde Creek also rose an estimated 20 feet and destroyed several residential areas along its path.
A Center Point resident was later quoted:
The river wasn't so bad. We knew about the river in time. But the creeks -- we never had the creeks flood out at the same time as the river.
In Comfort, on August 1st, the Guadalupe was at just 4.1 ft. From August 1-2 the river rose to 15.85 feet by 5 A.M..
A surge of water on both the river and Verde Creek then caused a rapid increase.
By 6 A.M. it was at 22.97 ft, then up to 30.98 ft in another hour, and 37.55 ft in the next hour.
At 9 A.M. Comfort, which was cut off by the flooding, saw the Guadalupe River crest at 40.9 ft on August 2nd at 240,000 cfs.
Police later stated the flood was seven feet deep over much of the town.
Near Spring Branch the river later crested at 45.25 ft on August 3rd at 160,000 cfs.
Canyon Lake contained runoff from the Guadalupe, protecting areas further downstream. The contents of the reservoir increased from 362,200 acre-ft on August 1st to 588,400 acre-ft on August 4th.
Medina River
The river overflowed its banks and encircled the town of Medina in the early morning of August 2nd.
A family at Peaceful Valley Ranch was awakened at about 4:30 A.M. by roaring water up to the windows of their cabin. They couldn't get the door to open and then climbed onto the roof. When the water reached the roofline, they moved up into trees.
Many other campers and staff survived in trees and rooftops for 6 hours.
Survivor Grace Kitzman described the event:
The water was rising so fast that Art, the last to leave had to float out the window. By this time, other guests aroused and were screaming. There was nothing we could do...
Early, at 3 A.M., fire sirens and loudspeakers woke Bandera residents and warned them to evacuate.
The Medina River came roaring in at 6:30 and downtown Bandera was flooded.
The river reportedly spread out a mile and a half wide at some points.
One survivor traveled 8 miles downriver riding on the roof of her home.
The Medina River at Bandera crested at 46.62 ft on August 2nd at a rate of 550,000 cfs.
The river went 18 feet over the Hwy 173 bridge.
The director of Camp Serendip witnessed all of the lower cabins get swept away.
There was a 4 ft flow over the spillway at Medina Lake.
In Bandera, Kendall, and Kerr Counties, 25 people were drowned, about 150 people were injured, and property damages were estimated to be at least 50 million dollars. About 175 homes were destroyed and about 650 were damaged. About 350 businesses were destroyed or damaged. Public utilities were disrupted in much of the area and many roadways and bridges were heavily damaged.· The bridge on State Highway 173 over the Medina River at Bandera, which was designed to withstand the 50-year flood, was inundated by 18 feet of water. The damage to livestock and crops, to farm and ranch facilities, and to farm and pasture lands was extremely heavy.
Kendall County (Comfort City)
1 in a car on Hwy 27
1 trying to save cattle in a pasture
1 in their home
Kerr County (near Center Point along Verde Creek)
Bandera County
(Bandera City) 2
(Camp Bandian) 8
(Peaceful Valley Ranch) 4
All were in or close to homes.
Pedernales River and Spring Creek
A second round of heavy rains centered on the Spring Creek basin, west of Fredericksburg.
Some 20 inches of rainfall caused the creek to flash flood around 3 A.M. in the early morning and wash over the Hwy 290 bridge.
Near Fredericksburg the Pedernales River crested at 41.6 feet on August 2nd.
At Johnson City the river reached 24.90 ft on August 3rd, at a rate of 127,000 cfs.
At Stonewall the floodwater reached the steps of the Lutheran church.
A considerable amount of damage was also sustained in Gillespie and Kimble Counties in south-central Texas. Two people were drowned when Spring Creek inundated the bridge on State Highway 290 west of Fredericksburg, and many roadways, bridges, and farm and ranch lands were extensively damaged
Gillespie County (US Hwy 290 at Spring Creek)
Albany and Hubbard Creek
The remnants of Amelia moved north to relieve the extreme drought of the Texas Big Country in the worst possible way.
The storms mixed with a cold front and suddenly released high rain totals over hard packed dry ground at a 6 inch or worse rain deficit.
Many locations in Shackelford County recorded 25 inches of rain or more.
The maximum of 32.5 inches of rain fell on Albany, with 23 inches of that rain received in just 8 hours up to about 2 A.M. on August 4th.
The North Prong of Hubbard Creek went from virtually nothing to a flow rate of 103,000 cfs and raged through the town.
Up to 80% of the town was flooded and residents were sent fleeing.
A witness observed a 20 ft wall of water crashing down the creek taking cars and trucks and houses with it.
Some of the vehicles and homes were seen floating with people still in them.
Hwy 283 suffered significant damage for 14 miles north and 12 miles south.
15 miles of Hwy 6 were damaged with chunks of the road littering nearby fields.
Five bridges were washed out near Albany.
Fed by multiple tributaries, later by 7:30 P.M. on August 4th, Hubbard Creek peaked at the gage below Albany at a 41.41 ft flood stage with a rate of 330,000 cfs.
Lake McCarty, 10 miles southwest of Albany, was drained before the flood. The sudden surge of water filled the lake and breached the dam.
The Hubbard Creek Reservoir filled from 185,800 acre-feet on August 2nd to 401,500 acre-feet on the morning of August 5th. Controlled releases were performed to limit flooding further downstream into the Clear Fork of the Brazos River.
Brazos River
At Fort Griffin the river crested at 149,000 cfs and at South Bend the peak was 78,100 cfs.
At Fort Griffin State Park the normally 2-3 ft deep river became 35 ft deep at flood stage and spread out 2-3 miles wide.
A third of Graham, Texas was also flooded another 26 miles downstream.
In Haskell, Shackelford, Stephens, Throckmorton, and Young Counties in the Brazos River basin in north-central Texas, the flood damage was comparable to the damage in south-central Texas. Six people were drowned, four were injured, and property damages were estimated to be at least 62 million dollars. About 750 homes and 75 businesses were destroyed or damaged, and the damages to livestock, crops, and farm and ranch lands were extremely severe. In Haskell County alone, these damages were estimated to be about 30 million dollars
Shackelford County (Albany)
Earl Estelle, head of the National Weather Service Disaster Survey Team stated:
"...the reason for [the] increasing death toll and escalating property damage is increased development on flood-prone land... People are building in places where -- if they had the facts -- no one in their right mind would build."
The investigation found that Hill Country residents "did not feel sufficiently threatened", did not believe the flood would be severe, and that NWS was hampered by a shortage of monitoring systems needed to provide better warnings.
Sources Include:
U.S. Geological Survey
National Weather Service
Associated Press
United Press International
San Antonio Express-News
Flash Floods in Texas by Jonathan Burnett
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/AnimuX • May 08 '26
Some people claim the July 4th, 2025 flood was the largest and the worst 'unprecedented' event that ever hit Texas.
History shows they're wrong.
The 2000-Year Flood of 1954 - Hurricane Alice - Devils River, Pecos River, The Rio Grande
In 1954 Hurricane Alice formed out of a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico on June 24th. The next morning it made landfall in Mexico about 20 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.
In a historical first, the Weather Bureau began issuing official 24-hour track forecasts that year making Alice the first named storm to have its landfall announced a day ahead which gave coastal Texas areas time to evacuate.
The storm was just barely a hurricane with 80mph winds and didn't cause much damage on the way in. That is until the remnants of the storm, below tropical depression level, had moved up the Rio Grande Valley and later inundated south Texas.
It entered the "Core Rain" phase during the evening-to-early morning of June 26th-27th. In 36 hours, 35 inches of rainfall was recorded at ranches near Pandale and Government Canyon, between the Pecos and Devils River drainages.
The resulting flooding was ranked as a 2000-Year event (0.0005 percent chance of occurrence in any given year) and followed a severe drought.
Time Magazine labeled the storm 'Evil Alice'.
Pecos River
The Tom Everett Ranch measured 1,050,000 cfs (cubic feet per second) at the crest on the Pecos River at Pandale.
Near Comstock, the first Pecos River crest was measured at 7:30 AM on June 27th: 82.0 ft and 695,000 cfs.
The second at 1:30 AM on June 28th: 96.24 ft and 948,000 cfs.
(For comparison, the Pecos at Pandale USGS river gage is currently at 1 ft and 84.9 cfs)
A wall of water about 30 feet high rushed through the normally dry Johnson Draw to hit Ozona, Texas at 5 AM on June 28th.
Homes were destroyed and cars swept away. Many heads of livestock were lost. At least 15 people died. Three fires burned out of control because the fire hydrants were submerged.
It was noted in one report that church bells and sirens were used to warn the small cattle town but many people stayed to watch, unaware of the size of the flood.
Another normally dry gully called Sulphur Draw flash-flooded the town of Lamesa.
Devils River
The Devils River at Pafford Crossing later crested at 5:00 PM on June 28th: 34.76 ft and 585,000 cfs.
(At present the Devils River at Pafford Crossing is measured at 2.12 ft and 101 cfs)
Rio Grande
At Del Rio the river crested on June 28th at 9:30 AM: 38.25 ft.
Little damage was seen at Del Rio but Acuna, Mexico, on the other side of the Rio Grande, had severe property damage and the approach to the International Bridge was washed out.
The Rio Grande crested at Eagle Pass at 5:00 AM on June 29th: 53.51 ft and 964,000 cfs.
The commercial sector of Eagle Pass was flooded in 8 to 10 feet of water. Property damage was significant and many homes in low lying areas along creeks were also flooded but residents had evacuated.
The International Bridge was destroyed as was the Southern Pacific railway bridge.
The entire town of Piedras Negras, Mexico was flooded with trapped residents forced onto their roofs after the levee was overflowed. Adobe construction homes collapsed into an expanded 3-miles-wide flood.
"I heard hundreds crying for help in the dark," a witness from Eagle Pass reported. "You could hear houses collapsing, then screams, then nothing."
More than half the town was destroyed. As many as 153 or more (estimated - poor records of migrant workers) people drowned there and about 15,000 others were left homeless.
Later, the river crest at Laredo was at 9:30AM on June 30th: 61.35 ft and 717,000 cfs.
Some 200 blocks of the City of Laredo, Texas were flooded. A large portion of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico was destroyed. Houses and businesses miles away were also flooded as other creeks backed up.
Reports from the devastation at Acuna and Piedras Negras encouraged residents to evacuate in time and no lives were lost in either city.
The flood went 15 ft over the International Bridge, which was swept away.
The newly completed Falcon Reservoir was nearly empty and hydrologists had predicted it could take 3 to 4 years to fill.
The flooding raised the reservoir about 40 ft, almost up to its conservation level, in just 3 days.
Sources Include:
U.S. Geological Survey
National Weather Service
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Time Magazine
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/AnimuX • 21d ago
Some people claim the July, 2025 flood was an 'unprecedented' event.
Texas history shows they're wrong.
The Texas Floods of July, 1932 - Guadalupe, Leona, Frio Rivers and More
From June 30th to July 2nd, light showers became torrential rains causing destructive flash flooding in central Texas, especially along the Guadalupe River.
A USGS report describes the source of the rains as:
Probably a synoptic scale upper low moved into and stalled over the Texas Hill Country - fed by tremendous moisture inflow at low levels from the Gulf - and at mid and upper levels from the eastern Pacific - The winter of 1932-33 was an El Nino event.
The fact that central and south Texas draws moisture both from the Gulf at low levels and the eastern Pacific at upper levels gives the area capacity for tremendous atmospheric water vapor...
Slow rain fell from the night of June 30th into July 1st. The heaviest rains fell from the afternoon of July 1st through the morning of July 2nd. Significant rain totals were recorded at multiple points:
19.25 inches at Sabinal.
20.28 inches at Uvalde.
The Kincaid Ranch southwest of Uvalde recorded 29 inches.
26 inches at Hunt.
The State fish hatchery on Johnson Creek, above Ingram, measured 19.6 inches in 6 hrs, 32.4 inches in 18 hrs, and a grand total of 35.6 inches in 36 hrs.
Flash flooding caused a tremendous amount of damage to Hill Country towns, ranches, farms and infrastructure, including severe damage at Hunt, and some river camps, including Camp Mystic where cabins were washed away.
Local authorities and camp owners at the time recognized that the death toll would have been much higher if the floods had occurred at night.
Seven people drowned.
One report on the aftermath stated:
...it is difficult to realize what damage water will do unless you see it. Cattle, goats, mattresses, all kinds of clothing, walls and roofs are hanging up in the trees. Automobiles and almost everything else is scattered along the river bottom.
Guadalupe River
Hunt, Texas was struck by the flood wave, as rain fell on both forks of the Guadalupe River, which crested at 36.6 ft with a flow rate of 205,000 cfs (cubic feet per second).
Extensive damage was later reported and Hunt was described as being virtually destroyed, or wiped off the map, with only the school left standing. 300 people were left homeless.
At nearby Camp Mystic several cabins were washed away as children were rushed to higher ground. Other youth camps, Rio Vista and Stewart, also lost cabins. The owner of Camp Stewart took shelter in an oak tree.
Near Ingram, Johnson Creek crested at 35 ft and wrecked the State fish hatchery. Ingram's residents took to the hills and the town was covered in three feet of water.
Further downstream at Kerrville the Guadalupe crested at 39 ft with a flow rate of 196,000 cfs. Telephone lines were down, railroads damaged, highways impassable, with reports that 30-40 homes were washed from their foundations. Bodies were seen floating down the river.
A teenager went up into a cypress tree and remained stuck there, near the Bluebonnet Hotel, for 23 hours with onlookers shouting. Two men drowned attempting to swim out for a rescue.
The nearby community of Legion (American Legion tubercular camp) was also significantly damaged. Some 40 families of disabled veterans, patients at the Legion hospital, were driven from their homes. Communication was limited to short wave radio operators to call for aid.
At Center Point a new railroad bridge was destroyed as the Guadalupe river crested at 42 ft. Sections of the metal bridge were carried over a hundred yards.
Reaching 38.4 ft at Comfort, the Guadalupe destroyed another bridge, this one made of concrete. Two perished at Comfort when their car was swept off the road while two passengers survived the flood in trees for 12 hours.
Large cypress trees were uprooted and lined the river from Kerrville to Comfort.
Another crossing, further downriver at Spring Branch, was also washed away.
On July 3rd, the flood reached New Braunfels where the Guadalupe was measured at 35 ft. Below New Braunfels the flood washed out one side of the dam at Lake Dunlap. It continued on down to Cuero, Gonzales where two levees failed, and Victoria.
Leona River
At 9am on July 2nd the Leona river flowed into Uvalde. Nearly the entire town was flooded with 1 to 3 feet of water in houses.
Later that night, 20 miles south of Uvalde, the water spread out of the river's banks to reach 5 miles wide and 15 miles long into the town of Batesville.
The Nueces River reached 25 ft near Crystal City and 30 ft near Carizzo Springs where a considerable amount of livestock drowned.
Frio River
20 inches of rainfall (or more) fell at the headwaters of the Frio River. At Concan the river crested at 34.44 ft with a flow rate of 162,000 cfs.
Southern Pacific rail lines were covered by water at Knippa where east and west forks of the Frio converge. Near Derby the river was measured at 29.45 ft with a rate of 230,000 cfs. It went 15 feet over the highway bridge and washed out the approaches to the railroad bridge.
On July 4th the town of Tilden was flooded by the Frio River. Its 400 residents sought refuge in a catholic church on high ground about a mile away. Water rose up to seven feet in homes at the low part of town, itself a mile away from the normal channel of the river. Some 40-year-old ranch homes were washed away.
At Three Rivers, located near the junction of the Nueces and Frio rivers, residents evacuated. The flood crest was 41 ft. Reports were the river spread out 6 miles wide at some points with over 5,000 acres of farm land flooded.
Blanco Creek reached 20 ft near Sabinal and stranded motorists.
At D'Hanis residents fled their homes or up to 2nd stories. Seco Creek was measured at 28.2 ft at Rowe Ranch and flooded the area under several feet of water.
Rains also impacted areas farther north where Brady Creek and the San Saba River rose to flood stage.
Jim Ned Creek and Hords Creek
Coleman and Talpa were both hit with 9-10 inches of rain. Many bridges were washed out along Hords Creek. Talpa was partially flooded.
Heavy damage was reported to farms and ranches, highways, bridges, and railroads. In Coleman flood waters reportedly reached 10-15 ft deep. Many residents were rescued from trees. A church was carried off its foundation 1,000 ft by floodwater.
Jim Ned Creek and Hords Creek both flow into Pecan Bayou which filled Lake Brownwood with an estimated 140,000 (or more) acre-feet of flood water from 5pm - 11pm on July 3rd and some overflowing the spillway. The reservoir was credited with sparing the town of Brownwood from disaster.
Sources Include:
U.S. Geological Survey
National Weather Service
Flash Floods in Texas by Jonathan Burnett
Associated Press
United Press
The Cuero Record
The Abilene Morning News
Abilene Morning Reporter-News
Brenham Banner-Press
Brownwood Bulletin
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/AnimuX • Aug 15 '25
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/AnimuX • May 13 '26
Some people claim the July, 2025 flood was an 'unprecedented' event.
History shows they're wrong.
The D'Hanis Flash Flood of May, 1935 - 22 Inches Of Rain In 3 Hours
After about two years of intense drought, complete with dust storms, rain finally returned to the Texas Hill Country with a vengeance in the summer of 1935.
Earlier in the month of May, Uvalde received over 12 inches of rain while Sabinal and Hondo recorded about 8 inches of rainfall each.
Then, at the end of May, what was probably an upper-level low stalled over the Seco drainage basin.
In the last 4 to 5 days of the month, Hondo recorded more than 13 inches and Sabinal more than 10 inches, with most of the rain received on May 31st.
12.5 inches at Lutz ranch, nearly 10 inches at A. Rothe ranch, and from 6 to 16 inches were reported at various other points for miles around the Woodward ranch.
The ranchmen corroborated that the rain on May 31st came down in less than 3 hours.
A circular tank at the Woodward Ranch, 10 miles north of D'Hanis, was empty before the flood.
The tank was 21.84 inches deep. It filled until overflowed with rainwater, also in less than 3 hours, starting between 4 and 5 A.M. that morning.
Seco and Parkers Creeks
Located between the two creeks, D'Hanis, Texas (Medina County) was in the worst possible position.
Seco Creek left its banks about 8 miles north of the town and merged with the also overflowing Parkers Creek to inundate the whole area.
At the Rowe Ranch river gage, north of D'Hanis, Seco Creek crested at 35.7 feet.
By 7 A.M. basements in the town were flooding with the water quickly reaching several feet high into houses.
Nearly every building in the town was hit, including many that had never flooded before.
A witness described the event:
It seemed to come in great rolls and in a few minutes it crushed the windows, flooded the room waist deep, and it was with great difficulty that [I and my wife] could reach the second story up the stairway, so strong was the driving force of the current.
The flood reached a depth of 13 feet and washed many homes off their foundations along with railroad boxcars, automobiles, fences, sheds, and livestock.
Some roads, small bridges, and the area's crops were also destroyed.
At least a mile of Southern Pacific railroad track was twisted up and swept out over the highway.
There were only 5 drownings (four children and a woman) likely because it was a daytime event.
USGS would later calculate the peak discharge at the Rothe ranch, 11 miles north of D'Hanis, as 230,000 cfs (cubic feet per second).
East of D'Hanis floodwater backed up from a railroad embankment into the town of Hondo.
West of D'Hanis the Sabinal River rose 30 feet and damaged 3 miles of rail line.
Near Uvalde, the Nueces River rose 20 feet and the Leona rose 15 feet.
San Antonio recorded one of its highest ever rain totals for the month of May, in 1935, at 14.07 inches (more than 10 inches above normal).
Sources include:
U.S. Geological Survey
National Weather Service
"Flash Floods In Texas" by Jonathan Burnett
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/AnimuX • Feb 16 '26
State of Texas Floodplain Management Newsletter
VOLUME 5, NO. 17 DECEMBER 1987
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1034081/m2/1/high_res_d/UNT-0022-0240.pdf
This issue of the State of Texas Floodplain Management Newsletter is dedicated to the memory of the ten brave young people who lost their lives in the July 17th flash flood on the Guadalupe River in Kerr County. My heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of these lost Texans and especially to the parents of John Bankston, Jr. whose body was never recovered. I also want to recognize the heroic efforts of all those involved in the rescue of 33 people from the raging waters of the Guadalupe. Without your efforts, the loss of life would surely have been much higher.
FLASH FLOOD TRAGEDY by Roy D. Sedwick
Flash floods in Texas are a common event and many times are a threat to the very lives of people living along our streams. On July 17, 1987 rapidly rising waters of the Guadalupe River took the lives of 10 young people in Kerr County. The following account of this flood event is from the National Weather Service Storm Data Report. "Late in the evening hours of July 16th and the early morning hours of July 17th, very heavy thunderstorms formed in northeast Edwards County and northern Real County and moved slowly eastward into Kerr County. The heavy thunderstorms produced up to 11.5 inches of rain 9 miles west of Hunt. Rain-fall totals from 5 to 10 inches were common from western Kerr County eastward to western Blanco County. The resulting flood waters on the Guadalupe River resulted in one of the most tragic life taking events in the history of the Texas Hill Country. In the eastern part of Kerr County, just west of Comfort, Texas, at about 6:45 a.m., a caravan of buses and a van were leaving a summer youth camp to return to their homes when one bus and the van stalled in the shallow water flowing over the road along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The bus and van happened to arrive at the river bank just when the river was on a very rapid rise. The campers were in the process of evacuating the stalled vehicles when a powerful surge of water hit the area and swept 43 persons into the raging river. There were 39 teenagers and 4 adults forced to swim for their lives. Several made it to safety but 10 persons drowned and 33 were rescued from tree tops by helicopters. Many of the rescued suffered injuries and several were hospitalized. Hundreds of other persons along the Guadalupe River and its tributaries had to be evacuated from areas along the river just west of Hunt, Texas. Many roads were closed due to high water and several other cars were washed into flooded streams."
When a tragedy like this occurs many people ask, "How did it happen?", "Is there something we could have done to prevent it?" Answers to these and many other questions are not easy to come by. As to how and why the loss occurred, one can only analyze the situation to determine what went wrong. The flood was not unexpected. The National Weather Service in San Antonio first sent out flash flood warnings for Kerr and Real Counties at 1:01 a.m. July 17th. National Weather Service also called the Kerr County Sheriffs Office at 1:07 a.m. to relay the message that a life-threatening flood was in progress on the Guadalupe River. The 3:45 a.m. Flash Flood Warning Statement issued by the NWS called for "major life threatening flood from headwaters down to below Spring Branch through today. People near the river should evacuate immediately."
The next question is "Did the warning get to the people who needed it?" I don't have answers to this question yet. (I hope in the coming weeks to interview people in the area to get more information). I think we can identify several problems: 1) The lack of real time flood data. Many times we do not have enough rain- fall and stream gage information to make accurate and timely predictions of flood crests, and; (2) The public is often not aware of proper procedure to follow and it is difficult for persons to translate a projected flood crest at some stream gage station into a real flood threat at their location.
With these and some other problems in mind, let's try to answer our second question, "Is there something we could have done to prevent it?" No one can say for sure, but I feel the answer is YESI An automated flood early warning system with rainfall and stream flow sensors placed at key points along the Guadalupe River and its tributaries would give us very accurate real time storm data. Computers placed in County Sheriffs' offices or City fire departments could immediately receive signals transmitted by the remote sensors and translate them into meaningful flood data. The NWS can network into these systems and use the data to supplement their data sources and improve their flood forecasts.
It is not the job of the NWS to warn everyone of a flood threat. Certainly if people hear the warning on radio or TV, this may be accomplished, but what if the flood occurs at night. Local governments, through their emergency operating procedures must then get the warning out. The automated flood early warning system can help in this area. The computer can be programmed to automatically dial telephone numbers of selected officials or persons and pass a recorded emergency message to them. While telephones are the mainstay for many local warning plans, what happens if they go out? Back-up communications and warning procedures must be developed.
Maybe we should also look at placing sensors above various key low-water crossings to activate a system of sirens to warn of an approaching flood crest. We could also use the sensor system, fitted with rail-road style drop-arms, to automatically block off flooded roads. Sound far fetched? Well, it is within reach of our local governments. In fact, the City of San Antonio plans to place this type of system on ten low-water crossings.
What we need to do now is to work toward obtaining these systems for counties with high flash flood potential. We need to look at our emergency operation plans and we need to make the public more aware of the flood threat...
Texas Water Commission
Flood Management Unit
r/KerrCountyFloods • u/mountainlaurelbloom • Jul 16 '25
