Officers in Kerr County, Texas — the place 27 campers and counselors at a Christian summer season camp have been killed in catastrophic flooding — had mentioned putting in a flood warning system alongside the banks of the Guadalupe River, often called “Flash Flood Alley,” however it was rejected as too costly.
Kerr County, residence to round 50,000 individuals, had regarded into putting in sirens and river gauges together with different trendy communication instruments alongside the waterway in 2017, however in the end determined in opposition to it, the New York Occasions reported.
“We can do all the water-level monitoring we want, but if we don’t get that information to the public in a timely way, then this whole thing is not worth it,” Kerr County Commissioner Tom Moser mentioned on the time.
However the county, which has an annual price range of round $67 million, misplaced out on a bid to safe a $1 million grant to fund the venture in 2017, county fee assembly minutes present.
As a substitute, native officers relied on a word-of-mouth system to cross messages about raging floodwaters downriver from the camps upstream.
In a current interview, Rob Kelly, the Kerr County choose and its most senior elected official, mentioned residents have been hesitant in regards to the excessive price of a warning system.
“Taxpayers won’t pay for it,” he mentioned, in line with the Occasions.
In the meantime, county commissioners mentioned utilizing a flood warning system being developed by a regional company as not too long ago as Could, price range assembly minutes present.
