UGRA: New flood warning system performed as designed during Thursday’s flooding

The Upper Guadalupe River Authority said Thursday’s flood warning infrastructure — built over the past year in partnership with Kerr County and community partners — functioned as intended during this week’s flooding, crediting the response to work done since the July 2025 flood.

In a statement, UGRA said Kerr County successfully activated three of its six flood warning sirens based on established protocol: two on the South Fork and one in Hunt on the Guadalupe River. The authority said the protocol did not call for activating the other three sirens, because those watersheds experienced only minor flooding this week.

UGRA said emergency procedures for flooding and an operations manual for the sirens were developed before this flooding event and were put to use during the response. The authority’s RiverHub platform, at riverhub.ugra.org, was also widely used by both the public and first responders to improve situational awareness as the flood unfolded.

The authority credited months of public outreach and education for helping ensure residents knew a flood warning plan existed and knew how to connect to resources to stay informed and prepared.

UGRA thanked the State of Texas for funding support through the Senate Bill 3 grant program, and said more work remains. Next steps include installing additional rain and water level gauges, developing predictive modeling, continuing public outreach and education, and adding more sirens.