Texas state leaders didn't prioritize flood management
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Texas didn't complete a comprehensive statewide assessment of flood risks and solutions until last year. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
As Texas state leaders have prioritized spending on border security and property tax cuts, they have been far more reluctant to fund flood management efforts.
Why it matters: Texas leads the nation by a wide margin in flood deaths.
- More than 1,000 people died in Texas floods from 1959 to 2019, according to an academic analysis, most having occurred in the Hill Country.
- Local officials in areas like Kerr County have struggled to secure funding for basic warning systems and have instead relied on National Weather Service text alerts and word-of-mouth to alert residents of flooding, rather than costly outdoor siren systems.
Driving the news: Weekend floods in Texas claimed nearly 90 lives, with dozens of people still missing.
The big picture: Despite Texas' vulnerability, the state didn't complete a comprehensive statewide assessment of flood risk and solutions until last year.
- "Planning, in the long term, is going to save lives; it's going to protect people; it's going to reduce misery ... not just in monetary costs but also in human suffering," Reem Zoun, the director of flood planning for the Texas Water Development Board, told members of the board last August.
- "What we do will not eliminate flooding. If we have large storms, we're still going to flood — but if we work properly and proactively, and have appropriate floodplain management practices, we will see less impact."
By the numbers: Though the Texas Water Development Board has identified more than $54 billion in needed flood-control projects, lawmakers have only allocated roughly $669 million so far, the New York Times reported Monday.
- This year, the Legislature approved $2.5 billion for the Texas Water Fund — used to finance water projects in Texas, including conservation, desalination, and flood mitigation — with the possibility of $1 billion per year over 20 years using sales tax revenue, pending voter approval in November.
- Lawmakers also passed Senate Bill 1967, expanding projects that can be awarded from the Texas Flood Infrastructure Fund.
One key proposal, House Bill 13, would have created a state council to establish a unified disaster response and alert system, but it stalled in the Senate after some Republican lawmakers questioned its cost.
- The bill would have required the council to consider the use of outdoor warning sirens and implement an emergency alert system.
- "I can tell you in hindsight, watching what it takes to deal with a disaster like this, my vote would probably be different now," state Rep. Wes Virdell, a Republican who represents Kerr County, told the Texas Tribune.
Zoom in: In the Hill Country, technological and infrastructure barriers have slowed adoption of modern flood alerts.
- Kerrville officials explored installing a warning system in 2017 but rejected the idea over its price tag. The county later missed out on a $1 million grant and, as recently as 2023, was still weighing other funding options, according to KXAN.
- Outdoor emergency sirens may have given people more time to escape, former Kerr County commissioner Tom Moser told the New York Times, but a single siren can cost as high as $50,000.
What's next: Gov. Greg Abbott suggested Sunday that he'll include the notification issue on the upcoming special session agenda, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on Fox News Monday that the state should pay for sirens on the Guadalupe River by next summer.
- State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) said on X Monday he will file a measure "to bring back civil defense sirens" in flash-flood prone areas.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt.