Item 1.5 discussion regarding the flood
2 warning system, Commissioner Moser and our Emergency
3 Management Director Mr. Dub Thomas.
4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Judge. As I
5 think as we looked at the need for emergency management
6 over the last 18 months or so and realizing that the two
7 most probable things that were going to happen in Kerr
8 County is either flood or fire. And if flood or fire
9 happens, the majority of it's probably going to be in
10 the County itself. And we discussed at one time, I
11 believe with the Sheriff and he gave us an update on
12 what we have in place for warnings for flood, if in fact
13 they do occur and when they occur, and the system by
14 which that's done. And what it appears now, okay, and
15 this is for discussion so everybody can understand it
16 before we propose to take any action, there are some
17 systems that are available that are used by other parts
18 of the state. Even though this is probably one of the
19 highest flood-prone regions in the entire state where a
20 lot of people are involved, their systems are state of
21 the art. Dub set up a meeting with UGRA, and myself and
22 Dub and some other folks, and we went over to New
23 Braunfels the other day to the Water Oriented
24 Recreational District, WORD, okay. And they have a
25 fabulous system over there...
19
...
8 MR. THOMAS: Yes, Sir, thank you. About a
9 month and a half ago or two months ago Mr. Black with
10 UGRA got in touch with me about looking at updating our
11 flood warning system. And like Commissioner Moser said
12 we went over and looked at one in Comal County, which is
13 a -- it's a pressure plate system, it's run by solar and
14 has loud sirens, 13 decibels, I believe that can be
15 heard for three mile distance.
16 The current flood warning resources we have
17 now is a Mark Ten wireless traffic warning system, the
18 GBRA rainfall monitoring system which GBRA does not
19 quality assure their data. You USGS water alert, which
20 is just the stream flow gaging stations here in Kerr
21 County. And then there's a UGRA water and sediment
22 control based sensor, but those aren't really flood
23 control or flood warning systems. What I'm looking for
24 is I think we need a system that can be operated or
25 controlled by a centralized location where -- whether
20
1 it's the Sheriff's communication personnel, myself or
2 whatever, and it's just a redundant system that will
3 compliment what we currently have.
COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think that -- I think
5 compared to what we have as Dub described to what Comal
6 County has, it's night and day. Their system -- what do
7 they have Dub, like about ten? Do they have ten, seven
8 or ten --
9 MR. THOMAS: Had 8 --
10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Gages.
11 MR. THOMAS: 8 gages.
12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They're all autonomous,
13 their all solar powered. If there's a flood or rising
14 water, it senses it and goes to the software in the
15 system, it communicates back to a central system. And
16 if it can't communicate directly with the central
17 system, it communicates into the next sensor downstream,
18 which can communicate to the central system. It goes
19 into a system which analyzes what's happening, and it
20 alerts -- it alerts people that are like the emergency
21 management coordinators on their cell phones exactly
22 what's happening, so it gives plenty of warning, and in
23 addition to that, the sirens which you know cover the
24 entire, they overlap, so they get an audible throughout
25 that entire region over there if flooding is eminent.
21
...
COMMISSIONER MOSER:
22 It's not hugely expensive. I
23 think they're units why like about 40 thousand dollars
24 each, as I recall, initially.
...
22
1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And then a couple
2 thousand dollars a year to maintain and manage their
3 functional and operational.
4 MR. THOMAS: And the current one that we
5 have, it will give -- all it does is flashing light. I
6 mean all -- that's all you get at river crossings or
7 wherever they're located at. This one gives an audible
8 alert 13 decibels, which can be heard for three miles.
...
25
COMMISSIONER REEVES: And what you're
5 proposing is much more needed as far as alarms to let
6 the people know --
7 MR. THOMAS: Yes, Sir.
8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- in outlying areas?
9 MR. THOMAS: Yes. Because if you look at
10 the RV parks that are along the river and those types of
11 places, and none of these systems are going to work very
12 well unless everybody's connected to code red anyway.
13 But I think an audible system located at strategic
14 points along the river would give those folks a needed
15 information when they need to know to get out.
27
MR. LEONARD: I'm Tony Leonard, the City's
9 emergency management coordinator.
...
19 the only
20 warning system is me getting up in the middle of night
21 and looking at it. You know when I know it's going to
22 rain and I know it's been raining, and literally just
23 setting the alarm on the phone to make it, to check it
24 that none of the river levels are going off.
28
...
Buster: "The Crider's would call the Merritt's and the Merritt's would call the Baldwins..."
24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just remember the
25 days when the river with get up, and the Crider's would
29
1 call the Merritt's, and the Merritt's would call the
2 Baldwins, and the Baldwin's would call the Priour's, and
3 on down the river.
4 JUDGE POLLARD: Worked, didn't it?
5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That worked.
6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes.
SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Real quick if I can
8 speak.
...
16 You know the one thing we've talked about
17 all the RV parks, but the most important thing that we
18 have always run across and that's been I spent hours in
19 those helicopters pulling kids out of trees here is our
20 summer camps. And a lot of that's you know during our
21 flooding time.
30
...
5...You need the sirens...
