Texas Hill Country floods test new warning systems after last year’s deadly disaster

After deadly floods killed more than 100 people in Texas' Hill Country last July, officials vowed major changes in hopes of preventing the failures that contributed to the high death toll. They promised better flood warning systems, tighter safety rules for children's camps and improvements to the state's water infrastructure.That work was far from done when a new round of storms began pummeling the state this week, triggering catastrophic flash floods in some of the same areas devastated in 2025.

At least two people died. Hundreds needed rescue.But residents in some hard-hit areas said a year of preparation did make a difference.

Newly installed flood sirens sounded in the darkness, warning people to get out. Phones buzzed with alerts that weren't sent out in last year's disaster.Still, stories of people surprised to find their homes inundated by rising rivers illustrate the challenges of trying to bolster early warning systems in a vast, rural area known as Flash Flood Alley.

Some agencies were more proactive about sending wireless alerts Over the last decade, a variety of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to implement flood warning systems along the Guadalupe River, the AP reported after last summer’s floods killed 136 people, including 28 at a sleepaway camp for girls.That changed after the tragedy as lawmakers and others scrutinized a lack of preparedness by government agencies and riverside camps.Unlike last summer, when local officials in Kerr County said they had been reluctant to “cry wolf” and order evacuations and failed to send out wireless alerts to warn of flash floods, Kerr County issued four alerts and the city of Kerrville issued one early on Thursday as the risk for flooding became apparent, according to an Associated Press review of available data.

They warned residents along Quinlan Creek to evacuate to higher ground, and of “extremely dangerous” flash flooding. Those alerts came alongside flood watches, warnings and emergencies sent to broadcast outlets, weather radios and mobile phones by the National Weather Service. People who signed up for the CodeRED notification emergency system in Kerr County also received text message warnings.

“Last year, we got no alarms. We had no idea what was going on,” said Suzanne Sutphin Gschwind, of Kerrville.“This year, very different,” she said, with multiple texts and calls coming in from local authorities, a weather channel and her doorbell camera.

One night the warnings arrived “about every two hours.”“I think we would all like to err on the side of too much,” she said. The warnings didn't reach everyone Between the early morning hours of Tuesday and about 9 a.

m. Thursday, the National Weather Service sent 38 alerts to people in certain southwest Texas communities, including 14 tornado warnings and 24 warnings that flooding was occurring or imminent and could be “life threatening.”Those Weather Service notifications, though, often don’t contain the highly localized information put in alerts sometimes sent by municipal and county emergency agencies — and people in some places may not have gotten any of those local alerts, which can be more decisive for people considering whether to seek high ground.

An Associated Press review of wireless emergency alert data did not find any listed as sent by agencies in Uvalde County, which was hit hard by flooding, though agencies in that county might have used other means to alert the public.Jaclyn Gonzales was awakened at 2 a.m.

Wednesday by a friend who called to warn that a tornado might be headed toward her Uvalde-area home. When she jumped out of bed, the floor was wet.“It was the shock of the water to my feet that made me really wake up,” she said.

Kat Sprawls only learned floodwaters were nearing her Batesville home when a friend called her at 3:30 a.m. Friday.

It took five or six calls before she woke up, because she had her phone on do-not-disturb mode.“There's no warning system at all. It's just like the flood in Kerrville last year — we had no warnings,” Sprawls said.

“Over half of Batesville is under water now."Zavala County Sheriff's Department secretary Jessica Belmarez said the department is updating its Facebook page with evacuation information and that law enforcement officers were going door-to-door in affected areas, including Batesville. The network of flood sirens is expanding Newly installed sirens in Ingram and in Kerr and Kendall counties were used this week to warn residents, said state Sen.

Paul Bettencourt, who authored legislation in 2025 to help fund the sirens. Twenty-eight additional counties are also eligible for flood warning funding. Most are in the process of putting together implementation plans for review by the Texas Water Development Board.

“Between the outdoor sirens, and the cellphone alerts, the response was very positive in getting people out of the way and to higher ground,” Bettencourt said. “It’s an enormous improvement over a year ago.”Three of six new s