Texas Floods: Were Warnings Enough?

Texas faced a terrible flood on July 4th. Over 100 people lost their lives. Many were at Camp Mystic near the Guadalupe River. People say they didn't get alerts or didn't understand them. The National Weather Service (NWS) sent 22 warnings. They told people to move to higher ground. But local governments didn't send any alerts. They relied only on the NWS. The NWS had warned about rain and floods since July 2nd. But no one expected 20 inches of rain. This happened because of storms and Tropical Storm Barry's remnants. Let's look at the timeline of warnings: On July 3rd, the NWS issued flood watches. They warned of rain and flash floods. But these were not emergency alerts. At 11:41 p. m. , Bandera County got a warning. It said flash flooding could be deadly. People were told not to drive through flooded roads. On July 4th, at 1:14 a. m. , Kerr County got its first warning. It was similar to Bandera's warning. At 1:53 a. m. , Bandera County got another warning. But Kerr County didn't. At 3:35 a. m. , both counties got a warning. It told campers and hikers to avoid streams. At 4:03 a. m. , the warning became more urgent. It said, "Seek higher ground now! " This was the first time such urgent language was used. At 4:03 a. m. , a Flash Flood Emergency was issued. It said the Guadalupe River was flooding. Between 4 and 10 inches of rain had fallen. At 5:34 a. m. , Kerr County got another warning. It said the situation was dangerous. At 6:06 a. m. , both counties got a warning. It said rescues were happening. At 6:27 a. m. , Kerr County got another warning. It repeated the urgent message. The Guadalupe River peaked at 36 feet around 7 a. m. At 7:24 a. m. , Kerr and Kendall Counties got a warning. It said a deadly flood wave was moving down the river. More warnings followed throughout the day. They all said the same thing: seek higher ground.