Texas Senator Proposes Flood Alert Upgrades After Deadly Hill Country Flooding

Flood Preparedness and Legislative Session

• 🎯 Disaster preparation is a top priority for Houston Senator Paul Bettin Court and other lawmakers in the upcoming special legislative session.
• 🗓️ The joint select committee on disaster preparedness and flooding will meet for the first time following the July 4th flooding in the Texas Hill Country.

Proposed Flood Warning System Enhancements

• 💡 Senator Bettin Court proposes combining old tech sirens with new tech cell phones to improve flood warning systems.
• ⚠️ The goal is to fill gaps in warning systems, especially for those who silence emergency notifications or are in areas with poor phone signal.
• 📡 The proposed system includes sirens, gauges, a supervisory computer with data acquisition, cell phone towers, 5G, and potentially Starlink for redundancy.
• 🌊 The system aims to operate independently and alert people within watersheds.

Cost and Prevention

• 💰 The estimated costs for these upgrades are in the tens of millions of dollars.
• ✅ The state is expected to commit to funding the improvements to flood warning infrastructure and prevent future disasters.
• 🔑 The ultimate goal is to implement best practices that can save the most lives in the future.