Overview

• State and federal authorities are probing whether Camp Mystic’s leadership received or saw the National Weather Service’s 1:14 a.m. flash‐flood alert on July 4.
• Evacuation began between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m., more than an hour after the warning, amid spotty cell coverage and reliance on Wi-Fi and walkie-talkies.
• Kerr County lacks outdoor warning sirens after its last flood gauges were decommissioned in 1999, leaving residents without immediate flood alerts.
• County officials and Texas lawmakers intend to leverage a special legislative session to secure funding for sirens, watershed sensors and automated alert networks.
• Flood experts, led by Rice University’s Phil Bedient, recommend expanded sensor arrays, computer‐based flood modeling and automated triggers to deliver precise real-time warnings.