Texas Hill Country floods test new warning systems after last year’s
deadly disaster
[July 23, 2026]
By CHRISTOPHER L. KELLER and REBECCA BOONE
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.
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A helicopter flies over the Guadalupe River as floods pass through
the area on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP
Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
“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 sirens installed in Kerr County were used to warn
people to seek high ground, said Tara Bushnoe, manager of the Upper
Guadalupe River Authority. The other three were in areas with only
minor flooding, Bushnoe said.
The small town of Comfort had one warning siren for years. The
volunteer fire department recently installed two more.
“Some people just don’t want to leave — that’s our problem here,”
said Danny Morales, the assistant fire chief. “But we did set them
off twice, probably an hour from one to another, just because we had
people just lingering, and not wanting to move."
Private companies are working to fill the gaps
Ian Cunningham founded River Sentry after the 2025 floods, building
flood siren towers for privately owned sites like RV parks, camps
and hotels. The sirens are triggered by rising water levels.
So far, the company has installed 104 sirens along the Guadalupe
River, Cunningham said, including several near the site of an RV
park where more than three dozen people died in 2025.
“We installed them about three months ago and did not expect them to
be used so soon,” Cunningham said.
Hohonu, which has developed water-level sensor technology and a
real-time data network, received a state contract that will make it
easier for agencies to purchase its flood warning technology.
Watch Duty, a fire-tracking app used by millions, expanded earlier
this year to help monitor floods.
Officials say the changes saved lives
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the lessons of 2025 led to a better
emergency response this time.
“Everybody in Texas has been far more prepared to deal with what has
happened this year,” Abbott said during a news conference in Uvalde.
“Lives have been saved.”
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