Since 2016, the issue of a “flood warning system” for Kerr County has emerged in 20 different meetings of County Commissioners, according to minutes.
The idea for a system was first presented by Kerr County Commissioner, Thomas Moser, and the Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.
Moser said neighboring counties had much more advanced flood warning systems than Kerr County, “although it is probably one of the highest regions prone to floods throughout the state.”

You can see a fallen sign near a crossing of the Guadalupe River after a sudden flood swept the area, on July 5, 2025, in Ingram, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP
The existing water monitoring mechanisms of Kerr County were not “flood control systems or flood warning,” Thomas explained, added: “I think we need a system that can be operated or controlled by centralized location.”
After the meeting of March 2016, the flood warning system was discussed in 10 more commissioner meetings that year. But after the county could not ensure FEMA subsidy funds to implement the system, it seemed to fall from the agenda.

The trees emerge from the waters of the flood along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025, in Kerville, Texas.
Eric Vryn/Getty Images
In November 2020 Discussion of a new Emergency Alert program of FEMA, said Thomas: “We have been trying to obtain a new flood warning system here. We have not been able to do it.”
The last time the commissioners mentioned that the flood warning system was in July 2021, MEETS OF THE MEETING show. But since then, other local government agencies in Kerr County have discussed the possibility of a new flood warning system for the area.

The officials stir through the banks of the Guadalupe River after sudden flooding through the area, on July 5, 2025, in Hunt, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP
In April, the authority of the Alto Guadalupe River, a government agency that manages the basin, convened a Special meeting of its Board of Directors. The Board voted unanimously to select a company called Kisters “to develop a flood warning system in Kerr County.”
The minutes of the meeting show that the company was scheduled to receive a contract worth up to almost $ 73,000 as part of the proposed system, whose status is not currently clear.
When the area was flooded on Friday, the member of the Council of the City of Ingram, Ray Howard, received three sudden flood alerts of the National Meteorological Service, but none of Kerr’s County authorities, told ABC News.
“The river emerged very fast,” Howard said. “There is nothing that I can do about it, but there must be early warning systems to get something, a warning, faster.”

The rubble rest on a bridge over the Guadalupe River after a sudden flood swept the area, on July 5, 2025, in Ingram, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP
Howard pointed out that money has been a barrier to implement this system.
“We need to obtain funds for that,” he added, “for sirens or something that will help the community.”
But 2016 MEETS OF THE MEETING It shows that there was also opposition to a flood warning system among some commissioners, and one said: “The idea that our beautiful Kerr county had these damn sirens in the middle of [the] Night, I’m going to start drinking again to support them all. “
Another commissioner voted against Present a subsidy request for the warning system, saying that he thought “all this is a bit extravagant for Kerr County.”
On the other hand, several County officials argued that the “River calls” system of the County, essentially a telephone tree to warn imminent flood camps, was enough.
Howard does not agree: “Obviously calling another is not fast enough,” he told ABC News.