Thread by @ByMikeBaker

Texas officials have long worried about the dangers to children who packed into camps each summer along the flood-prone Guadalupe River. They knew that warning systems were inadequate.

So why was nothing done? We have reviewed documents spanning a decade to find answers.

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Without a more advanced warning system, the youth camps on the river had instead relied on a word-of-mouth strategy: Upstream camps would warn downstream peers of water surges coming their way.

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nytimes.com/2025/07/06/us/…

But officials repeatedly wondered whether that was sufficient.

Here's a county commissioner talking in 2017, during a discussion about river gauges, sirens, and other ways the might alert people to flash floods.

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Around that time, local officials sought help from FEMA, but the federal government declined to fund a ~$1 million flood warning system.

There were other priorities at the time: Hurricane Harvey had just produced catastrophic flooding in other parts of Texas.

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County officials were also wary of spending money. One county official opposed a $50,000 engineering study, saying the effort was "a little extravagant for Kerr County, with sirens and such."



5/9 govtech.com/em/disaster/co…

Cost was a common theme.

In a recent interview, Kerr County's most senior elected official told The New York Times that the warning system was expensive and residents have been resistant to new spending.

“Taxpayers won’t pay for it,” he said.

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nytimes.com/2025/07/05/us/…

Local officials tried another option more recently: The Flood Infrastructure Fund, a state program dedicated to flood improvements.  But when officials applied for help, they got word that the state would only support 5% of the project's funding. Local officials backed out.

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Why was the state offer so small?

While the state has identified $54 billion in flood control needs, the Legislature has funded only a fraction of that. They have other priorities: This year, lawmakers approved $51 billion in tax relief.

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We have many reporters on the ground in Kerrville and are continuing to investigate. If you know more about the region's flood planning, weather service communications, Camp Mystic, or anything else of note, please get in touch.

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Here is a link to our full story, without a paywall.
nytimes.com/2025/07/06/us/…

UPDATE:

28 children are confirmed dead, and 10 remain missing. It's one of the deadliest single events for U.S. children that we have ever seen.

nytimes.com/live/2025/07/0…

I wanted to finish this night on one positive note:

This is Scott Ruskan, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. He is credited with saving 165 people from Camp Mystic.

It was his first rescue mission.

Here is his story: nytimes.com/2025/07/06/us/…