SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio (COSA) said it has hired an engineering firm to look into what led to a dozen deaths at two creeks and extensive damage to its infrastructure on June 12.
According to a memo issued June 20 from City Manager Erik Walsh, Kleinfelder Inc. is preparing to assist SAPD, SAFD, the Public Works Department and the city attorney’s office in its investigation. Several factors in the investigation will be considered, including:
- data from the National Weather Service
- a field survey of available high-water marks
- COSA rainfall gauge data
- COSA high water detection data
- a timeline of notification warnings to the public
- a review of the COSA’s actions
- any available videos or images in both areas
The city said Public Works Department crews performed maintenance at Beitel Creek in the days and weeks leading up to the June 12 flood, which included “routine mowing” as well as clearing culverts to improve safe water flow on June 9.
According to the memo, those culverts were cleared at Vicar Drive in anticipation of the June 12 “rain event.”
However, as KSAT 12 witnessed on the day of the flood and again on June 19, the drainage channel near the intersection of Vicar Drive and Perrin Beitel was badly damaged.
According to Walsh’s memo, three drainage projects were completed in the Beitel Creek area between 2016 and 2020.
In an April 2016 KSAT report, Bexar County officials said that its flood control projects, which included the Beitel Creek area, remained intact days after a rainstorm on April 18, 2016. At the time, county officials were in the midst of their 10-year Bexar County Flood Control Program.
In all, 13 people died due to the floods on June 12. Aside from the 12 victims found at Beitel and Leon creeks, a San Antonio Fire Department spokesperson said one person was found several miles north of Beitel Creek.
Additionally, as of June 24, 12 of 13 storm victims have been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Walsh said a “status report” on the investigation, with potential preliminary findings, will be provided 30 days after the memo was issued.
The San Antonio River Authority is also conducting a separate data review of the June 12 floods.
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