Headlines across the globe continue to proliferate as more bodies are discovered in a large-scale search and rescue effort following a massive flood in Central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. In one of the worst floods in American history, the death toll has surpassed triple digits, with many people still missing.
Several North Texans are included in the death toll, including young campers from Camp Mystic, an all-girls faith-based sleepaway camp located on the banks of the Guadalupe River. Unexpected rainfall, causing the river to rise 26 feet in 45 minutes, has wreaked havoc on Kerr County and the surrounding areas and called into question the current administration's cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Weather Service.
On the 4th, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 15 counties across Central Texas. On Saturday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem joined the governor in Kerr County to visit the remains of the Camp Mystic grounds.
"This is a time when we, as a state, need God more than ever," said Abbott at a press conference. "The one thing I hear the most are the prayers that are being sent for those who are in harm’s way. There is an extraordinary collaboration to make sure that we address everybody’s concern as quickly as possible.”
More than 20 state and federal agencies are conducting emergency services on site, and additional resources have poured in from every corner. Dallas Fire-Rescue deployed a “water squad” to join search efforts this weekend, and other North Texas first responders have trekked to help the Hill Country community.
Delayed flood warnings and late evacuation orders have attracted criticism, especially as discussion of unnecessary vacancies caused by federal employee buyouts within FEMA emerges. When government layoffs were initially rolled out, experts in Texas warned against cuts to departments that serve crucial roles in monitoring and responding to natural disasters, which the state has several of each year.
When asked if he believed meteorologists within the NWS should be reinstated in light of the flood, President Donald Trump said no, calling the flood a “once-in-a-100-year” event. The Central Texas Hill Country, wrapping the Guadalupe River, has a well-cataloged history with fatal flash floods, but never to this magnitude.
The president approved a major declaration of disaster on July 6 and is expected to touch ground in Kerr County by the end of the week.
“President Trump stands strong with Texas in our time of need, and I thank him for swiftly approving Texas’ disaster declaration request,” Abbott said. “This federal support will ensure local officials, emergency management personnel, and first responders have the critical resources they need to help Texans rebuild and recover from these devastating floods.”
Has This Ever Happened In Dallas?
The topographical changes are significant in the 200 or so miles between North Texas and Central Texas. As you move to the center, rolling hills stretch to soft peaks, and glimmering lines of water, making up the area's lakes and rivers, snake between them. The Texas Hill Country is a parallel universe compared to the flatness of the Blackland Prairie that Dallas lies within.Steep slopes and arid, nonabsorbent soil direct runoff from heavy rain straight into the more abundant waterways of the Hill Country, creating what is known as Flash Flood Alley. But Dallas is nestled into the southernmost region of Tornado Alley, and during peak cyclone season, when rain falls the hardest and fastest, the area can see flooding.
But flooding in Dallas is rarely fatal. The most recent fatal flood was in June when a man was stranded in his vehicle on Park-Central under a highway bridge in the middle of a large flood. Flood casualties are rare even though the Trinity River runs directly through the city. But that wasn’t always the case.
The Trinity used to flood often, and sometimes disastrously.
One of the worst floods in Dallas' history occurred in 1908. When 15 inches of rain fell in a short span, the Trinity crested at 52.6 feet, which remains the record, and expanded to a width of 2 miles. As many as 11 people are estimated to have died, while 4,000 were left homeless, and the city was dealt $65 million in damages in today’s dollars.
For three days, Dallasites were without power, telephone and rail service. Oak Cliff, where the damage was worst, could only be reached by boat.
“Scattered rags of clothing are hanging upon broken wire fences,” wrote an unnamed journalist at the time, according to the Oak Cliff Advocate. “Clocks, furniture of all sorts, children’s toys and all manner of home effects are lying in the mud. Overturned outhouses, shattered stables and careening buildings are on every hand, some washed into an unfamiliar lodging place. Further out into the river are more roofs, generally twisted out of alignment or sloping crazily toward the retiring water.”
Will It Ever Happen Again In Dallas?
The devastation of the 1908 flood was so widespread that the city government reassessed its planning. In 1911, George Dealey, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, invited George Kessler, the land architect behind Fair Park, to replan the city, introducing a levee system to prevent future floods.The city disliked the Kessler Plan, and World War I created significant delays. Then in 1918, the Morning News brought Kessler back to the city to revise his plan. With larger levees, it was approved, and by the early ‘30s, two levees were built on the east and west sides of the Trinity.
The project was a massive undertaking and received considerable federal support, but the city has maintained and monitored it since 1968.
The Dallas Floodway Project, which includes the combined 22.6 miles of the East and West Levees designed by Kessler, modified river channels and pumps, protects the city from catastrophic flooding to this day. A third levee, the Rochester Levee, was added in the ‘90s after another smaller Trinity River flood destroyed 200 homes in Oak Cliff.
But the levees do little to help with Dallas’ roadway flooding, which remains an issue to this day. In 1995, a disastrous flash flood, which witnessed 2.25 inches of rainfall in 15 minutes, transformed all roads into moats. Approximately 20 people died in the flooding across North Texas, most were swept away while attempting to cross inundated roads, and a few were killed in a building collapse during the rain. The storm, however, is most known for a companioning hailstorm that struck an outdoor music festival in Fort Worth, hospitalizing 60 attendees. At the time, the storm was the costliest non-tornadic storm in U.S. history, causing an estimated $2 billion in damages.
