Bexar County commissioners this week authorized a state grant to start putting in flood warning sirens in high-risk areas — a step officers say will add to the county’s flood security system, however gained’t absolutely deal with its most harmful flooding dangers.
The funding, offered by the Texas Water Improvement Board beneath Senate Invoice 3, allocates $1 million to Bexar County and permits for as much as $1.25 million with further approval.
The cash is particularly designated for flood warning sirens in areas recognized by the state as susceptible to flash flooding — a requirement that is available in response to final summer season’s lethal floods throughout Texas.
Below the state’s pointers, sirens have to be put in inside these designated zones, with precedence given to areas the place folks could also be uncovered to flooding open air — together with campgrounds, RV parks and different in a single day websites.
In Bexar County, these zones span roughly 800 to 900 miles of waterways, or about 36% of the county’s floodplain, in keeping with San Antonio River Authority officers.
Erin Cavazos, an engineering supervisor with the River Authority — which is main the initiative — stated the county plans to put in sirens in phases earlier than August 2027.
The total price of putting in sirens throughout all eligible areas has not but been decided, however officers stated it is going to exceed the state funding that’s presently out there.
“They do have further funding that they haven’t decided how it will likely be allotted,” Cavazos stated. “We intend to submit the total price of the sirens for the entire flash flood-prone space that they’ve recognized. $1.25 million is not going to be sufficient.”
In whole, 5 to 10 sirens can be put in over the subsequent 16 months or so utilizing present funding, however officers cautioned that sirens aren’t designed to handle the kind of flooding that has precipitated many of the latest flood deaths in Bexar County.
“Sirens haven’t labored very nicely with drivers,” Cavazos instructed commissioners, noting that almost all flood-related fatalities regionally happen at low-water crossings when folks try and drive by rising water.
Final June, 15 vehicles have been swept off a Loop 410 and Perrin Beitel entry highway into the creek beneath on town’s Northeast Facet throughout flash flooding, leading to 13 deaths.
That actuality has formed the county’s broader flood response technique — one which depends much less on audible warnings and extra on stopping drivers from getting into flooded roadways within the first place.
NextGen system’s subsequent steps
Final 12 months, the River Authority entered an interlocal settlement with Bexar County to start growth of a $20 million NextGen flood warning system — an effort officers say presents a extra instant and cost-effective solution to scale back flood deaths than large-scale infrastructure tasks.
That system is designed to enhance how rapidly officers can detect rising water and warn the general public to scale back deaths on flood susceptible roadways.
Addressing harmful low-water crossings immediately can price tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} per location, a scale of funding that limits how rapidly these fixes might be made throughout the county.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody stated upgrading simply two crossings in his precinct would price as a lot as your entire NextGen system, whereas tons of exist countywide.
“I believe that is an important funding we are able to make by way of attempting to guard human life,” Moody stated. “I’m certain there’s ongoing conversations about how we prioritize these infrastructure {dollars} along with this, however I do assume that is our greatest use of that first $20 million.”
That work has included surveying all present high-water detection areas within the county, accumulating information and stock on these websites, conducting a threat evaluation to establish the place new gauges could also be wanted and starting work on predictive flood modeling and a public outreach marketing campaign.
The River Authority plans to return to Commissioners Courtroom in Could with a capital plan and a request for the subsequent interlocal settlement, which might transfer the venture into the design and, officers hope, implementation phases this summer season.
The River Authority has additionally completed surveying present websites and has been utilizing that engineering evaluation to establish flood threat past present gauge areas.
“We’ve gauge areas, however I’d say we’re most likely masking a tenth of the world that’s in danger,” Cavazos stated. “Our capital plan will embrace not solely the upgrades we’ve been speaking about, but in addition further gauge areas.”
Some enhancements can start earlier than the total system is constructed out.
Cavazos stated the River Authority is near deploying upstream-to-downstream alerting, which might permit emergency managers to warn that rising water upstream could quickly have an effect on crossings farther down the watershed. For instance, drivers alongside Leon Creek could possibly be warned that flooding upstream may quickly impression entry roads close to U.S. Freeway 90.
For Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, one key query was when the general public may count on to see outcomes.
“The floods aren’t going to attend until 2027,” Rodriguez stated, asking whether or not any short-term enhancements could possibly be deployed earlier than the total system is accomplished.
Cavazos stated a few of these early modifications will come on the informational facet.
At the moment, residents can monitor flooding situations by BexarFlood.org, which gives real-time updates on low-water crossings utilizing a color-coded system to point whether or not roads are secure, nearing closure or flooded. Customers may signal as much as obtain textual content or e-mail alerts for particular crossings, although the system requires residents to choose in.
About 3,700 customers are presently subscribed to a minimum of one location, in keeping with the River Authority.
Flood information can be shared with navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze to assist drivers keep away from flooded roads, whereas broader climate alerts are issued by the Nationwide Climate Service and native emergency administration techniques.
The River Authority has launched a regional model of BexarFlood, now branded as SARiverFlood.org, with county-specific domains deliberate throughout the area. Officers stated the objective is to higher serve drivers shifting throughout county strains, particularly commuters getting into Bexar County from surrounding areas.
However officers stated the present system is basically reactive, with every crossing working as an unbiased information level primarily based on water ranges at that particular location.
Because the NextGen system rolls out these information factors will turn out to be related and supply earlier warnings as floodwaters transfer by the area.
On the identical time, the company is getting ready a flood-awareness marketing campaign aimed immediately at driver conduct. Cavazos stated the marketing campaign, anticipated to launch in Could, is predicated on analysis displaying that warnings about private hazard alone are sometimes not sufficient to cease folks from driving into floodwater. A number of the messaging as a substitute focuses on issues drivers could reply to extra instantly, reminiscent of injury to their autos.
Even with these additions, officers stated the county will nonetheless should prioritize.
For now, county leaders say the main focus stays on lowering threat the place they’ll — even when no single system can remove it completely.
