An authority of the Kerrville area executed a contract last month for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local government officials said in response to an ABC News request.
“An initial starting meeting was scheduled for mid -July,” wrote an unidentified spokesman of the area’s joint information center.
But the floods of the Guadalupe River did not wait for Kerr County technology to catch up.
Now, with at least 118 deaths related to floods in the center of Texas this week, a review of the minutes of local government meetings shows that some County commissioners, Sheriffs and other leaders have urged the flood warning systems improved in the area for decades.
As ABC News reported for the first time, during a meeting on April 17 of this year, the Board of Directors of the Guadalupe River authority voted unanimously to select a company known as Kisters “as the company to develop a flood warning system in Kerr County.”
The trees emerge from the waters of the flood along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025 in Kerville, Texas. Heavy rains caused floods along the Guadalupe River in the Texas downtown with multiple deaths reported.
Eric Vryn/Getty Images
The minutes of the meeting show that the company was scheduled to receive a contract worth almost $ 73,000 as part of the proposed system.
The contract was for “a centralized board to support local flood monitoring and emergency response”, which would allow emergency administrators to see current and rainfall data in real time, all on a platform, according to local officials.
The system would not issue public alerts, officials said, but would serve as “a resource for the decision to complement the existing infrastructure.”
Kisters did not respond to multiple requests for ABC News comments.
Joint Information Center spokesman told ABC News: “In the light of recent events, the timeline [of the new system] will be reassess. “
