FLOODSHills, Rivers and Rocky Terrain: Why the Hill Country Keeps Flooding
When storms roll in, water rushes downhill fast, gaining speed and force as it moves — often with deadly results.
When floodwaters tore through the Texas Hill Country on July Fourth weekend, killing more than 100 people — including campers and counselors at an all-girls summer camp along the Guadalupe River — Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly was quick to voice shock.
“We didn’t know this flood was coming,” Kelly said. Yet in nearly the same breath, he acknowledged that the region is “the most dangerous river valley in the United States” — one that deals with floods “on a regular basis.”
That contradiction — an expectation of danger paired with apparent surprise — has become tragically familiar in Central Texas.
Despite being part of a wide swath of Texas nicknamed “Flash Flood Alley,” this part of the Hill Country continues to suffer devastating losses — both in human lives and property — after floods that scientists and emergency planners have warned about for decades.
The region includes several Texas river basins: the Colorado, the Guadalupe and the San Antonio.
Between 2 and 7 a.m. July 4, the Guadalupe River in Kerrville rose 35 feet, according to a flood gauge in the area. The flooded river swallowed roads, bridges, entire RV parks and structures along the Guadalupe’s banks.
The region has a history drenched in loss, marked by some of the state’s most deadly floods.
Nearly a century ago in 1932, hard rains pushed the Guadalupe River out of its banks. That destructive flooding drowned seven people and property losses exceeded $500,000 — equivalent to $11.8 million today. A blog post by Kerrville Mayor Joe H. Herring Jr. recounted the story of a teen trapped in a tree for 23 hours during that flood and the men that tried to save him.
“The story of July 1, 1932 is a story of warning, and a story with heroes,” Herring wrote.
In 1978, a tropical storm stalled over the headwaters of the Guadalupe and Medina Rivers. The resulting flood drowned 33 people, causing millions of dollars in property damages, ravaging roads, bridges and ranchland.
