Tale of Two Counties: During Texas flood, two communities had different preparations, outcomes

While Kerr County officials responsible for emergency preparedness were nowhere to be found on July 3 and had no plans in place ahead of the July 4 flash flood event, neighboring Kendall County officials were in prepositioning and preparedness mode.

The county had suffered from a flash flood event in 1987 when heavy rain caused the Guadalupe River to rise 29 feet near Comfort and crest at 31.5 feet, the ninth-highest crest on record, the NWS said. The flash flood killed 10 teenage campers and injured 33.

The July 4 flash flood killed 137 in the Texas Hill Country, with 108 reported dead in Kerr County, including 37 children.

At a state legislative hearing on Thursday, lawmakers heard the Kerr County judge, emergency management coordinator (EMC) and sheriff appear to make excuses, explain that they were asleep, on vacation, or sick, and couldn’t have anticipated a catastrophic flood event – and hadn’t prepared for any flood event at all – The Center Square reported.

After they testified, legislators heard Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk explain in detail the preparations officials began taking on July 3, including actively monitoring weather systems all night. They weren’t sleeping and weren’t out of town. An evacuation order was issued in Comfort and along the river and no one died.

Stolarczyk, a captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, has served in Texas’ border security mission, Operation Lone Star. He also works as an assistant staff judge advocate for the 502d Force Support Group at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and runs a law practice with his wife in Boerne. Prior to being elected county judge in 2022, he served for 10 years as a staff attorney for the chief justice of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals of Texas. Under his leadership, Kendall County was awarded the Texas Association of Counties 2024 Excellence in Safety Award.

“Disasters always carry an element of unpredictability,” he told lawmakers on Thursday. “We were fortunate at this time. The USGS flood gauge data reflected a 50-year flood event for the Comfort community, not 100-year, not a 500-year event. Even more luckily, Cypress Creek did not flood.

“But make no mistake, it was proper planning not luck that formed the backbone of response. Our philosophy in Kendell County is simple. Prepare for the worst every time,” he said. “That philosophy guided the creation and implementation of our emergency action plan. This is not just a binder gathering dust. It’s a living document, tested, updated and actively used by our coordinated emergency team.”

He said their success depended on trusted collaboration among a range of partners overseeing shelters, road closures and public alerts. “The timeline of our flood response shows our proactiveness prior to the flood waters reaching our community.”

County officials began vigilantly monitoring the weather early in the morning July 3. County EMC Brady Constantine was advised to “be vigilant and stay alert for heavy rain,” specifically in RV parks and campgrounds along the river, he said.

Constantine attended a Thursday morning weather advisory call the Kerr County EMC skipped because he “was sick” and took the day off. Within a half hour of the call, Constantine notified county officials to be vigilant for potential flooding. By 1 p.m., a NWS flood watch was issued, which was escalated to a flash flood warning by 11 p.m., Stolarczyk said. Officials were monitoring flood gauges, low river crossings and weather conditions throughout the night, he said.

Constantine had “an uneasy feeling about the pending weather conditions,” Stolarczyk said. At 1:14 am, the NWS issued a flash flood emergency warning for Kerr and Bandera counties; Constantine activated emergency responses at 4 a.m.

As an initial 20-foot flood wave rushed the Guadalupe River south, it took 90 minutes to reach Kendell County, Stolarczyk said. But before then, officials had already set up an emergency command center and a mandatory evacuation order was issued for those living along the river and in Comfort. Road and bridge crews were closing off roads and assessing impacted bridges. Officials also activated a siren warning system for the Comfort area “to warn citizens of the impending flood danger.”

But well before this, Stolarczyk said the county strengthened its flood plain regulations, including banning all RVs from being parked in flood plain areas. In Kerr County, RVs along the river were wiped out.

The county also implemented new home construction restrictions based on flood measurements, invested in a feasibility study for Cypress Creek, located upstream in Kerr County, “to protect our downstream Comfort community,” he said.

They also pursued a countywide drainage master plan, created a full time grant coordinator position to identify and apply for flood mitigation funding, expanded FEMA training, implemented a new emergency alert system, allocated $1.5 million for culvert improvement, partnered with soil and water conservation to implement several measures and passed a $20 million bond to purchase conservation easements to protect water ways and limit development in those areas.

He also made recommendations for the state to implement, including developing a river-wide emergency alert system.

At the hearing, lawmakers learned that the river authority tasked with monitoring the Guadalupe River took nine years to not implement a monitoring or alert system despite having the funds to do so, The Center Square reported.