KERR COUNTY, Texas – A growing network of radios, sirens and weather alerts are being put in place along the Guadalupe River to give residents and visitors more time to react during future emergencies.
Local organizers said the next step is making sure people know how to use those tools.
Multiple groups, individuals and agencies have been working to improve communication in river communities, where terrain and limited service can make it difficult to send or receive emergency information.
One of the tools being expanded is GMRS, or General Mobile Radio Service, a high-powered radio-to-radio communication system often used by outdoor enthusiasts.
Kerrville business owner Justin McClure, owner of JAM Broadcasting, said he has invested thousands of dollars of his own money to place GMRS repeaters along the Guadalupe River. The repeaters are intended to help people with radios call for help, especially in areas where cellphone service may be unreliable.
“We want people to be able to communicate if they’re down in the river valley or up in the hills around here,” McClure said. “That’s been a real challenge with the flood and the communications beforehand.”
Watch McClure demonstrate the radios below:
The GMRS network is one of several tools now available or being developed for emergency communication and flood warning in West Kerr County.
Vikki Dunn, director of communications for the Hunt Safe program, said technology alone is not enough.
Dunn said the community must understand how the systems work and practice using them before an emergency happens.
“A plan is not good if you don’t know about it,” Dunn said. “If you don’t train on it, if you don’t fund it, to make sure that people actually know what to do in the event of an emergency.”
The Hunt Preservation Society is working to spread awareness about the network of warning systems, including among visitors who may be staying near the river.
Those systems include:
- AccuWeather SkyGuard and National Weather Service alerts, which provide targeted weather information.
- River Sentry uses automated siren towers and flashing lights to warn when water is rising.
- This spring, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority installed six of seven planned flash flood warning sirens along the river. UGRA’s River Hub dashboard is also now active, providing real-time information on rainfall, water levels and stream flow.
- Another tool still in development is Meshtastic, an off-grid, low-power radio technology that can help track people using connected devices when traditional communication systems are unavailable.
Dunn said the goal is to build a more prepared and resilient community by making sure residents, business owners and visitors understand the warning systems before they are needed.
“There’s a lot of communication and education that has to go with this, or else they’re tools and they’re words on a piece of paper,” Dunn said. “We have to really embrace it, own it, practice it, learn it, train it.”
KSAT reached out to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha for an interview about how emergency coordination has changed over the past year, but did not hear back.
Read also: