The Brief
The Texas House approved SB 3
SB 3 creates a grant program for warning sirens in communities that have a high risk of flooding
The Sandy Creek community is still recovering
AUSTIN, Texas - A major flood response bill cleared a critical vote on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 3 creates a grant program for warning sirens in communities that have a high risk of flooding.
The idea of a state program to install a new flood alert system is not limited to the Hill Country. Several high-risk communities in Central Texas will also be eligible to tap into the program.
What is Senate Bill 3?
The backstory
The call for a better warning system has also come from communities along the Guadalupe River, in Kerr County. On Tuesday at the state capitol, a key part in answering that call was presented on the House floor by Georgetown Republican Terry Wilson.
"With limited cell phone coverage in many of these areas, we must rely on proven technology like warning systems," said Wilson.
SB 3 directs the Texas Water Development Board to identify high-risk flood-prone areas. The Board is also helping local officials apply for a grant to install flood sirens. The new warning systems are to be regularly tested, and those tests must also be documented.
Wilson was asked if the legislation has a specific distance requirement for the sirens and monitors.
"The Texas Water Development Board will take all those things into consideration as they look to the specifications by each particular location," said Rep. Wilson.
SB 3 was approved by 138 votes. The legislation was amended so, after a final vote, possibly on Wednesday in the House, it will have to go back to the Senate for approval. The new grant program taps into a $50 million fund that was set up by SB 5. That Bill remains in the Conference Committee.
The idea for warning sirens came in response to questions about how officials in Kerr County responded to weather advisories in advance of the flooding.
Dig deeper
The human factor in disaster response is something people like Dan Bates believe should not be ignored.
"They're going to have to know what they're doing before anybody gets hurt," said Bates, who is helping his brother rebuild along Sandy Creek.
The disaster in Texas, for Bates, brings back some hard memories from another disaster. He recently moved from Maui, which was hit by a wildfire in 2023. Bates noted how tsunami sirens were not turned on then because officials feared residents would evacuate uphill, where the fire was initially located. Many people went to the shoreline and became trapped when the fire swept downhill. That kind of confusion and the possibility of complacency is a concern for Bates.
"It would have to be something that anybody in the area, anybody up and down Sandy Creek, would all have to understand exactly what's happening. They would have to know when they hear that siren and then how you're going to get that siren to go off to help. That's something I can't answer," said Bates.
Sandy Creek update
Local perspective
Clean-up continues along Sandy Creek in Northwest Travis County. There's a lot of work to do, like reopening the one and only bridge into the Sandy Creek neighborhood.
But a lot of progress has also been made, and that’s encouraging for residents like Holly Conner.
"We're doing well and our friend who lost everything on the first street, they're doing better. So, I can't complain personally, we're getting back to life, that's for sure," said Conner.
Moving forward for those in this community also means being prepared for the next storm. The next flood.
"At least give us something. I mean, we had nothing. The flood hit at three o'clock and our first alarm on our phones was at 4:30. So we couldn't even find higher ground if needed," said Conner.
The Source
Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski and a House committee hearing
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