The River
The same question probably passed the lips of everyone who heard about the catastrophic flooding in central Texas that killed at least 88 people, including 27 children and counselors at a single camp. How could this have happened? How could a summer storm cause the Guadalupe River to surge 27 feet in an hour? In the era of supposedly all-powerful technology and AI, how could our warning systems fail so dramatically? How could we be cutting jobs related to weather prediction, warnings, and emergencies when we know that climate change is making things more dangerous? Even after you watch the timelapse videos and read the expert analyses on a perfect storm of natural disasters and human shortcomings, the question persists. So we dig into these evaluations and try to figure out what went wrong, in part to get some answers before the story moves off the front pages and people stop asking questions, and in part because the science and the politics is easier to consider than the human tragedy, which, like the raging waters of the Guadalupe, is almost impossible to absorb.
+ “He put his foot down on the floor of his cabin—and felt about 4 inches of water. RJ turned to his wife, who was lying in bed beside him, also awake. He told her, ‘Annie, the cabin’s flooding.’ RJ could see water rushing in through the front door. He tried to open the door, but couldn’t. He looked out the window and saw the water level was about two feet below the window. ‘We need to get out right now,’ RJ told Annie. They grabbed a few items—their cellphones and a bag they hadn’t unpacked. By the time they jumped out the window about two minutes later, the water had reached up to Annie’s neck.'” WSJ (Gift Article): A Texas Dad Tried to Kayak to His Daughters. The Girls Texted, ‘I Love You.’
+ “Eight years ago, in the aftermath of yet another river flood in the Texas Hill Country, officials in Kerr County debated whether more needed to be done to build a warning system along the banks of the Guadalupe River.” NYT (Gift Article): Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System. And from The Texas Tribune: Texas lawmakers failed to pass a bill to improve local disaster warning systems this year.
+ NYT (Gift Article): As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas.
+ “While the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and the city of Kerrville’s Facebook paged warned to ‘move to higher ground immediately,’ the young campers at Camp Mystic likely wouldn’t have seen that since” no devices were allowed at camp.
+ Because of the scope of the human cost, I’m sure the losses are being felt in communities across the country. Here in Marin County, people gathered at a vigil for a family who was staying at their house in western Kerr County while their daughter, Ellie, attended a local camp. Ellie was safe. Her parents and brother haven’t been heard from for days.
