Pushback from residents in 2017 might be the reason why there were no emergency sirens along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County.
KERR COUNTY, Texas — Kerr County leaders debated the issue of installing emergency sirens along the Guadalupe River nearly a decade ago, but one former official said there was pushback from some residents.
“The community was not in favor of having sirens located in a lot of locations,” said Tom Moser, a former Kerr County Commissioner who served from 2012 to 2021.
“Sirens, you know, can go off unintentionally, accidentally,” Moser said of the community feedback. “And that was not desirable on the part of some people.”
Meeting minutes from 2017 show that because “too many people said they did not want sirens,” county commissioners decided to not include them in a $980,000 federal grant proposal, which requested more flood gauges and sensors to monitor high-water crossings along the Guadalupe River. Moser said ultimately, the grant proposal was not approved, and the sparsely-populated Kerr County struggled to fund a major flood warning system in subsequent years.
“In hindsight, could we have done more, perhaps so,” Moser said. “Should we, you know, perhaps so.”
KHOU 11 Investigates confirmed at least four other counties along the river — Comal, Kendall, Guadalupe and Gonzales — all have outdoor emergency warning siren systems in place.
On its Facebook page, the Boerne Star newspaper posted the blaring sirens going off in the Kendall County town of Comfort on July 4.
“The evacuation sirens have been sounded,” Managing Editor Jeff Flinn said on the social media video. “Floodwaters continue to rise.”
Kerr County uses a web-based system known as “Code Red,” for emergency notifications. It alerts citizens by email or on their cell phones, but some areas in Kerr County are known for spotty cell service.
“It just blew my mind that they didn’t have (emergency sirens) for this area,” said Nicole Wilson.
Wilson, a mother whose two children attended summer camps in the hill country, started an online petition for an early warning siren system in Kerr County. She hopes state leaders will take notice and approve funding to better protect those in flash flood-prone areas.
“You need to act on this and you need to act on this now,” Wilson said. “Sirens work.”
Moser, the former Kerr County commissioner, hoped this tragedy would put a spotlight on sirens, saying, “I think now with this event, the good thing will be, it will be a high priority for the nation.”