SAN ANTONIO – The devastating Texas Hill Country floods over the Fourth of July weekend have taken the lives of at least 108 people—including 71 adults and 37 children — in Kerr County.
In the month since the July 4 floods, Kerr County residents are still looking for answers while rebuilding their communities with aid from across the country.
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Residents, campers and vacationers along the Guadalupe River have said that they were caught off guard and had no warning when the rainfall began, eventually dropping around 12 inches of rain in the county. Kerr County does not have a warning system along the river.
Since July 4, KSAT has reported extensively on the floodwater’s severity, often through data, graphics, maps and visualizations to help answer the question, “Why was the Hill Country flood so deadly?”
Data showed that between 3:45 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. on July 4, the Guadalupe River in Kerrville rose more than 20 feet in one hour. The Guadalupe River rose to 36 feet around 7 a.m. that morning.
The graphic below shows the rainfall totals in Kerr County on the morning of July 4:
Radar estimates show that more rural places may have received up to 13 inches of rain, according to KSAT meteorologists.
The overnight radar showed how quickly rainfall overtook the area.
An estimated 100 billion gallons of rain fell on Kerr County, a total that surpasses the daily flow of water over Niagara Falls.
“This just goes to show why we saw such devastating flooding in those areas,” KSAT meteorologist Sarah Spivey said.
On Friday, July 5, the Guadalupe River rose as high as 50 feet at 7:15 p.m. near Ammans Crossing in Kendall County.
The search for victims in the following days spanned over 80 miles from Hunt to Canyon Lake — that includes Kerr, Kendall and Comal counties.
With more than 100 lives lost, the Hill Country floods have become the fourth-deadliest flood in Texas history.
Why was the Hill Country flood so deadly?
This is a question that will be researched for years to come. As with any disaster, this are MANY things that went wrong in concert.
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These are just a few of the causes.
- The rain fell in precisely the wrong spot. Had the rain been 10 miles to the west or east, we may not be talking about this devastation. The storms sat directly over the South and North fork of the Guadalupe River, creating a true wall of water. It also happened very quickly, due to elevation and the limestone terrain.
- Intense rainfall. Because of the remnants of a tropical system (Barry), a tropical airmass resulted in incredible rainfall rates.
- Timing. It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. It was also the 4th of July, causing a peak in the amount of people along the river who were visiting to camp or park their RV. Additionally, several summer camps were directly under the heaviest rainfall.
- Communication. Because cell service was spotty or because alerts may have been turned off on phones, many people did not receive advanced warning.
- Warning fatigue. While some did get warnings, flood warnings are nothing new for this area. Because most floods are not this extreme, the warnings may have been disregarded or the seriousness of the flood was not understood.
KSAT meteorologists Justin Horne and Sarah Spivey contributed to this report.
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