Sounding Off Again about Need for Sirens
7/8/25 – After the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey caught many people by surprise in the middle of the night, I posted about the need for warning sirens. Now, the Hill Country tragedy on the Guadalupe is causing me to sound off again.
During Hurricane Harvey, floodwaters rose in the middle of the night in the Kingwood Area. Many people were surprised as floodwaters rose in their bedrooms. Through a breakdown in communication, people never received a warning to evacuate. Sirens could have given them time. Even at the last minute.
Instead, a dozen people died at Kingwood Village Estates during Harvey.
Previous Posts About Need for Sirens After Harvey
On April 20, 2018, I posted a personal flood-control wish list. I wrote, “Improve communication during power outages. We need a way to warn people when power is knocked out during a storm, cell towers are overloaded, and people are sleeping. Simply publishing information is not enough if people cannot receive it. Perhaps we need sirens linked to back up generators, like those used to warn people of tornadoes throughout most of the Midwest.”
Later that year on September 18, I followed up. I said we needed “Improved Inter-Agency Cooperation and Public Notification Systems – Texas House and Senate hearings held in the wake of Harvey identified these two areas as needing improvement – everywhere, not just in the Lake Houston area,” I wrote. “Evacuation warnings did not reach people in time. Many were caught sleeping as floodwaters rose in their homes.”
How do you wake people up in emergencies, especially when the power is out? “The Internet, cell towers, and power are among the first casualties of a storm,” I wrote. “Whatever happened to good old sirens?”
Many people in the Hill County are asking that same question.
Hill Country Camper’s Plea to Legislators
In the early morning hours of July 4, 2025, a rain bomb hit the area near Kerrville, TX. The Guadalupe River rose 33 feet in 1.5 hours as people were sleeping. More than 80 people died, many of them children, in the ensuing flood. As of this writing, many are still missing.
Yesterday I received a letter from someone who camps frequently in the Hill County. She wrote to state legislators. It read:
Reduce Risk of Future Flash Flooding Catastrophes
“While I appreciate the need to determine accountability for the loss of life in the current Texas floods, we could actually take one immediate action.
I ask that our state legislature appropriate / allocate funds to install flood gage sensors and public alarms in:
1. All state parks. A large number are located next to rivers and lakes. Many also have very poor connectivity.
2. Along all known, populated, flood-prone streams & rivers. Small communities are at most risk as they lack tax revenues for capital projects.
We could also require camps, campgrounds and RV parks to have functioning weather radios and some sort of public broadcast system to facilitate rapid evacuation when needed for any type of weather, fire or civil emergency.
Depending on individuals to own warning radios, listen to them and expect them to act clearly is not effective. We need something that operates like the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific.
I believe that much of the equipment needed is widely available and not especially expensive… sensors, solar panels & fuel cells, transmitters, tall towers & sirens.
If the state takes action now, we could implement something that will lessen the trauma of the next episode.”
Signed J. Jones
Failsafe Link
I agree 100% with everything she said. Sirens are the last failsafe link in a chain of communication.
You can lose power, a cell phone signal, Internet connectivity, TV reception, etc. You might even sleep through a weather radio alert. But that siren will blast you out of bed. Believe me. I know. I grew up with them.
Those old enough may remember the Civil Defense Alert System we used to have during the Cold War. It was based on sirens designed to warn people of impending nuclear attacks and natural disasters. I am told many states still use them to warn people of threats such as tornadoes.
However, the generalized nature of sirens led to many being replaced with more specific warnings, such as the broadcast-based Emergency Alert System and the Cell Broadcast-based Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Harris County has a world-class Flood Warning System that lets you sign up for alerts in your area. But if you’re camping in the Hill Country, it won’t do you much good.
To show solidarity with all the people who lost loved ones, write your state and county representatives. Urge them to install sirens to warn people of impending natural disasters. Like the flash flood in Kerrville, they can come with little warning. But even five minutes would have allowed people to scramble to higher ground.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/8/25
2870 Days since Hurricane Harvey
