Deadly Texas Hill Country Floods – Part III

Posted on July 10, 2025 by Professor Taboo

This is my final post of the series and the events of July 4th–7th, 2025 and the extreme flooding disaster here in the Hill Country.

This July 7th news briefing by Dalton Rice, Kerrville City Manager and part of the Kerr County emergency services, deserves to be mentioned and watched here:

*https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/07/us/video/kerrville-texas-flooding-evacuate-sooner-digvid*

“We did not want to cry wolf too soon.”

Mr. Rice went on to say and imply that ‘we did not want to or need to alert residents too early. We wanted to wait and see.’ 😲

Having covered these events before and during the severe flooding, now we are ready for the nauseating aftermath of July 4th.

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

The ABC news affiliate in San Antonio, KSAT, reported today that at 4:22am July 4th, a volunteer fireman in Ingram, Texas, contacted the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office—protocol for Texas fire departments working in sync with other officials for public safety—and he urged the Sheriff’s Office to send out CodeRED alerts to Hunt and Ingram residents. Contrary to what state and county officials are “claiming and saying” to the media, the public, the nation, and the world these last 6-days, the facts are it took these Kerr County and state officials almost 6-hours to respond with those emergency alerts. Shocking, just utterly shocking! From ABC news:

“The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39,” the firefighter said in the dispatch audio. “Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”

“Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” a Kerr County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher replied.

The first alert didn’t come through Kerr County’s CodeRED system until 90 minutes later. Some messages didn’t arrive until after 10 a.m. By then, hundreds of people had been swept away by the floodwaters.

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— ABC News.com, July 10, 2025

Now a question Mr. Dalton Rice, was holding off emergency crews and waiting 90-minutes and upwards of 6-hours enough waiting time to “not cry wolf?” Given the long history of frequent severe flash floods in this region in late-June through July going back to the early 1930’s, these are not stupid, worry-wart concerns and questions, not when actual human lives are at high risk. I’m curious to know how many years (or less?) Mr. Rice has lived in Kerrville, TX and the Hill Country. In a quick search I was unable to determine this.

Six days after the horrific events of the wee-hours of July 4th, local government officials here in Kerr County, Travis County (Austin, TX and our capitol), and federal officials in Washington D.C., are still arrogantly defending themselves and their political colleagues on how everyone performed beginning at about 1:15am–1:30am, July 4th.

One of the most popular remarks coming from all these officials is ‘We never could have predicted this type of storm and flooding in time to save lives.’ Jebus H. Christmas! If I hear this excuse come out of their mouths again, I’m going to just pullout all of my hair—what I have left—in a long fit of fury and screaming. 😡 That is such a lame cop-out excuse and simply NOT TRUE! Why? Because meteorologists, climatologists, atmospheric scientists, ecologists, oceanographers (e.g. NOAA), geologists, environmental engineers, economists, sociologists, and disaster-counseling psychologists have all been warning populations and every branch of federal, state, and local governments that exactly what is happening now and HAS BEEN happening the last 20-50 years was all predicted in at least the early-1980’s. Fact.

However, aside from those warnings by all weather related fields, the Texas Hill Country, which is dominated by ultra-Conservative politics and now MAGA politics, have known for decades that this region often referred to as Flash Flood Alley is very prone to severe flash floods that leave little time for residents to evacuate. But that knowledge and preparation is obviously outdated now.

Here are the some of the severe floods along with the most notable, severe floods in the past for this area during the three months of June, July, and August as well as those associated with tropical storms and hurricanes:

July 16, 1900: This is listed as the first catastrophic flood event locally as more than 11 inches of rain was reported in the area. San Antonio newspaper reports indicated that houses were washed away, and camps were heavily damaged. The Guadalupe River crested at 31 feet ,and significant damage was reported to the Kerrville electrical light plant. “Damage to crops and fences was enormous, but no lives lost,” according to a San Antonio paper report. Downstream, a 42-foot crest was observed at Comfort.

July 1909: The next major flood to strike the area was in 1909. Rainfall totals of 8 to 10 inches were observed and, while no lives were lost, the power plant was destroyed again.

September 1915: The flood of 1915 threatened to annihilate Ingram, according to official weather reports. Major flooding occurred upstream, producing a 30-foot wall of water. Many homes were destroyed or washed away, along with large loss of animal life. No loss of life was observed.

July 1st, 1932: Hard heavy rains pushed the Guadalupe River out of its banks, resulting in many fatalities and significant property damage.

*Guadalupe River, July 1, 1932.Photo taken from atop the Blue Bonnet Hotel, facing upriver. Note the Cascade Pool in the bottom right.*

*Guadalupe River, Kerrville, July 1 1932*

September 13th, 1936: This is the month it never stopped raining. On Sept. 13, 1936, it rained 0.56 inches, which was followed by 6.42 inches of rain on Sept. 14 and 5.95 inches of rain on the 15. Then another 0.95 inches fell on Sept. 16. A small break in the action occurred, but then it rained another 4.58 inches on Sept. 27 to close out the month. This was triggered by a tropical disturbance that passed inland near Corpus Christi and remained stationary across the area for days. As high as this total was, San Angelo was the wettest location in Texas, recording 27.65 inches of rain that month. Every station in the Texas Hill Country reported at least 10 inches of rain that month, and flooding was observed everywhere. The fatality occurred at Quinlan Creek on the bridge along Fourth Street, when a 75-year old man was on a low-lying bridge and rising waters knocked him off his feet and carried him a quarter mile downstream.

August 2nd, 1978: Tropical storm Amelia stalled over the Guadalupe and Medina Rivers, causing severe flooding that killed 33 people and caused widespread damage.

October 19th, 1985: The Guadalupe River rose 22.80 ft at Hunt, TX. I could not find the loss of life number for this event.

July 17th, 1987: During the overnight hours between July 16 and 17, up to 15 inches of rain was estimated to have fallen just west of Hunt. Rain in Edwards and Real County spread east into Kerr County, and the storm was a quiet killer. This was caused by a cloudburst rain event that produced a crest between 35 and 40 feet, a weather phenomena here that is increasingly frequent every 1-2 years. Young campers were trying to evacuate before the flood hit, but many did not escape in time. Ten people were killed in this tragic event, but one body was not recovered until several years later.

July 4th, 2002: Comfort reported more than 32 inches of rain. Estimates of 40 to 50 inches of rain were reported between Kerrville, Center Point and Comfort. The damage along Lytle Street was significant ,with major flooding and damage reported. The Guadalupe River rose to record levels, but not in Kerrville, as the rain fell over the city and drained toward Canyon Lake, creating water breaches in the Canyon Lake Spillway area near New Braunfels. Nine lives were lost in this flood event, mainly east of Kerrville.

May 27th, 2020: This May brought a thunderstorm event that caused more than $1-million in damages during the late afternoon and early evening hours of May 27. A supercell thunderstorm moved to the south from Mason and Gillespie counties. A large shelf cloud was observed with this storm, and it produced golf-ball sized hail, wind gusts between 75 and 100 mph and reports of tornadoes. The death toll for this storm is difficult to determine, however, archived reports imply fatalities from these extreme weather events have gone down since 2002… until July 4th–6th, 2025.

Therefore, when local, county, state, and federal officials tell residents of the Texas Hill Country that these type of extreme weather storms and floods happen only about every “100-years,” or “we couldn’t have predicted this,” or “the warning systems and staff are in place for these types of disasters,” they are obviously lying through their teeth as can be shown above in the long history of Kerrville, Hunt, Ingram, Center Point, and Comfort, Texas. Period. It simply is not true.

But sadly and maddeningly for residents here, officials like Dalton Rice (R), Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha (R), former Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr. (R), federal Representative Chip Roy (R), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (R), and Senator Ted Cruz (R), and many other so-called “officials superbly performing and executing” their public duties of office… in this case and disaster it is pure and simple lies and more lies still arrogantly defending themselves and their political colleagues.

Meanwhile, 111+ people are dead, many were children, and 161+ persons are still unaccounted for as recovery efforts for dead bodies continue. 😣😢

For further reading and research about Climate Change right now and the havoc it is causing the Earth:

—Letters from an American July 12, 2025, by Heather Cox Richardson

—https://watchers.news/2025/07/06/early-stratospheric-warming-waves-south-pole-polar-vortex/

—https://phys.org/news/2025-07-meltdown-swiss-glaciers-annual-weeks.html

Global Weirding

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A post shared by Brenna Perez (@perezbrenna)

**PBS Frontline** investigated FEMA and our MAGA Republican leaders and officials who failed the public and Camp Mystic. Click on image for the report.

— Texas Flooding Tragedy: State And Local Officials—And Partisan Politics—Face Blame For No Alarm Systems – Forbes.com

— River Managers in Kerr County Had the Money to Improve Flood Detection. Here’s What They Did with it Instead – KENS5.com

— Federal Records Contradict What FEMA Leader (David Richardson) Told Congress about Texas Flood Response – NPR.org

Live Right – Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

Deadly Texas Hill Country Floods – Part II

Posted on July 9, 2025 by Professor Taboo

As expected, our local “authorities” and political biases have really gotten nasty lately and our elected MAGA Republican politicians, authorities, and law-enforcement here have double-downed and are now doubling-down more on defending their decisions and political policies the last 8-16 months in Kerr County. Much has been revealed in the last 4-days. Responsibility, accountability, and honorable honesty are nowhere to be found or heard from our local and county leaders.

Let’s pickup where I left off previously.

“We Didn’t Want to Cry Wolf”

When the Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice answered press conference questions yesterday July 7th about Why weren’t safety-first evacuation orders made much sooner to those residents at high-risk, his immediate best answer was “…We didn’t want to cry wolf.”

*Kerrville press conference held July 7, 2025* — *https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/07/us/video/kerrville-texas-flooding-evacuate-sooner-digvid*

So in other words, according to Dalton Rice, it is much better to weight on the side of silence than it is to weight on the side of too cautious. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We don’t want to be perceived as worry-warts. But we are not dealing with alive victims Mr. Rice! We are now confronted with a death toll over 111 persons with over 160 people/bodies still missing! When extreme weather events threaten untold lives, you and your political colleagues chose to lean on the side of silence, or snail’s pace wait-and-see, rather than taking no chances with the loss of life. Wow. Just wow. What an idiotic, stupid mentality in this case and thing to say to the public you are supposed to serve and protect! 😡

By the way, my Mom and I were frequently asking on July 4th-5th Where is Senator Ted Cruz? Cruz’s M.O. is always quick to go anywhere to get on camera in the national limelight. Where is he? It took him more than 3-days to show up. Hah! No surprise there. He was likely on vacation down in Cabo, Mexico or some highly luxurious resort somewhere. That’s what he has always done in times of grave crisis. He did the same thing during COVID-19.😒

Back to sociopolitical events in Texas leading up to July 4th, 2025.

Lies Half-Truths About Texas’ NWS Staffing & Cuts

As expected, the MAGA Republican authorities and politicians involved with Texas’ National Weather Service, a public safety agency and protection for ordinary Texans, has in fact been slashed and cut since January 2025 after the results of elections in the fall of 2024. Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump’s deep staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives. And Texas politicians such as Gov. Gregg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and all of Trump’s butt-kissers here in the state (always in fear of retribution) follow suit with whatever Trump wants. Hence, significant cuts and slashing have taken place here in Texas for several years due to Trump sycophants and Trump loyalists.

The NWS office responsible for this region had just five staffers on duty as thunderstorms formed over Texas late Wednesday and Thursday evening, the usual number for an overnight shift when severe weather is expected. Current and former NWS officials defended the agency, pointing to urgent flash flood warnings issued in the pre-dawn hours before the river rose. I received on my cell phone over 45 severe flood warning alerts starting at about 2:00am July 4th.

The Trump administration has cut hundreds of jobs at NWS since going back into office, with staffing down by at least 20% at nearly half of the 122 NWS field offices nationally and at least a half dozen no longer staffed 24 hours a day. Hundreds more experienced forecasters and senior managers were encouraged to retire early.

The White House also has proposed slashing its parent agency’s budget by 27% and eliminating federal research centers focused on studying the world’s weather, climate and oceans. Texas immediately, if not beforehand, followed suit quickly.

The website for the NWS office for Austin/San Antonio, which covers the region that includes hard-hit Kerr County, shows six of 27 positions are listed as vacant. The vacancies include a key manager responsible for issuing warnings and coordinating with local emergency management officials. An online resume for the employee who last held the job showed he left in April after more than 17 years, shortly after mass emails sent to employees urging them to retire early or face potential layoffs.

Trump has continual blown-off anyone’s investigative inquiries into the mass cuts calling them attacking and belligerent. Meanwhile, the cuts WILL cause the NWS system to break.

It should also be widely known that Trump and his sycophants in Texas have been under a hiring freeze for adequate staffing needs. If nothing else these cuts and gutting of the NWS will greatly complicate the effectiveness of critical flood warnings and Code Red evacuations for this area of Texas. Period, especially for law-enforcement like county sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, DPS officers, and Texas Parks & Wildlife agents to go door-to-door knocking during life threatening events.

In the end, public safety programs, staffing, and protections have too often NOT been an ultra-Conservative Republican top priority, much less a MAGA Republican priority, over many years merely because they wrongly think it is all too costly. And yet, when actual human lives have been needlessly lost, they double-down in their defense of their decisions, legislation, and policies to save face and lie. Then come their diversion tactics to deflect scrutiny.

Events During July 2-5, 2025

Now, let’s look closely at the timeline of events beginning July 2nd, 2025. This is from the NPR website on the timeline:

Wednesday, July 2nd:
The Texas Division of Emergency Management announced that it was activating state emergency response resources because of the threat of flooding.

At 3:41 p.m. Central Time on July 2nd, early hints of severe weather came in a post on X (Twitter) by the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio that said: “scattered moderate to heavy showers continue to develop and expand to the Hill Country.”

Thursday, July 3rd:
At 8:47 a.m. Texas Division of Emergency Management posted on X weather guidance in both English and Spanish, informing followers about what to do in a flood, adding: “As we head into the holiday weekend and the flood threat in West & Central TX continues, stay weather aware!”

At some point in the morning, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick later said at a press conference, the TDEM Region 6 Assistance Chief had “personally contacted the judges and mayors in that area and notified them all of potential flooding.” He said it was unclear exactly where in the region the storm would hit.

“The message was sent,” Patrick said, “It is up to the local counties and mayors under the law to evacuate, if they feel a need. That information was passed along.” This is a vague reply and unverified.

At 1:18 p.m., the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio issued a flood watch, saying “local heavy rainfall could cause flash flooding.” At 2:35 p.m. the flood watch was announced on X, saying “pockets of heavy rain are expected and may result in flooding.” A flood watch is used when the weather conditions make a flood possible but it does not mean a flood will occur.

At this point I feel vehemently obligated to remind my readers that these are answers, excuses for the fact that MAGA Republican ideology here in rural Texas is anti-Public Safety. Why? Because they do not believe that “public safety” is adequately or appropriately utilized and costs far too much tax-payer dollars. That lame reasoning is not thoroughly examined here either. Please keep this in mind.

At 6:10 p.m., Thursday, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center issued an assessment for Texas Hill Country about “heavy rainfall,” mentioning “flash flooding likely.”

At 11:41 p.m., the National Weather Service office in Austin/San Antonio posted a flash flood warning.

At 11:42 p.m., the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio posted on X upgrading its flood watch to a flood warning for part of the impacted area. In a post from 1:14 a.m. on Friday, that area was expanded. A flood warning occurs when flooding is imminent or already happening.

Friday, July 4th:
At 12:26 a.m., the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said “flash flooding likely overnight with significant impacts possible.” This message was posted on X a minute later.

The National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio followed up its warning from 11:41 p.m. Thursday with another flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. Friday. Another 14 flash flood warnings, which are posted on the NWS website and elsewhere, would come between then and 10:46 a.m.

At 3:06 a.m. the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio posted on X: “A very dangerous flash flooding event is ongoing.” It ended: “Turn Around, Don’t Drown!“

Around 3:30 a.m. the Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said he was out for an early morning jog along the Guadalupe River and saw “not a drop of rain,” according to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who recounted his conversation with the city manager. Rice added that he left around 4 a.m. when “there was very light rain…We did not see any signs of the river rising at that time.“

These two men were being total idiots at that time! Obviously they know nothing about weather and flash flooding in this part of Texas.

Then, at 4:15 a.m. the National Weather Service San Angelo posted on X that there was a flash flood emergency. The Austin/San Antonio office posted on its X account about the emergency at 4:23 a.m. This type of alert is “exceedingly rare” and used when there is a “severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage,” according to the National Weather Service.

Between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., the Guadalupe River surged, with water levels rapidly rising as much as 30 feet, according to Rep. Roy. Local TV footage showed the empty foundations of houses, where everything else had been swept away.

This above confirms the utter stupidity of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice. Period.

Kerrville City Manager Rice said he started getting calls around 5 a.m. about the flooding. He said upstream of the city two branches converge into the Guadalupe River and that both forks had received more rain than expected. “It was about seven feet or so on the south fork, and within a matter of minutes, it was up to 29 feet,” Rice recounted later on Friday. (backtracking, backpedaling) 😡

After the 1987 flood, alarms were installed along the river. However, Rice said that he believes those are south of Kerrville. “There [are] not alarms everywhere on the river,” he said.

He added that it is a very hard decision when to issue evacuation orders. “There’s a balance between do you evacuate and put chaos on the road and potentially risk people getting stuck on a road? This is hill country…There’s a lot of low water crossings,” he said. “A lot of our operations plans — especially with these camps, that is — the plan is sometimes shelter in place to get them to those known high grounds and then wait for rescue.“

At 5:16 a.m., the City of Kerrville’s Police Department posted on its Facebook page its first warning about the weather, noting that it’s a “life threatening event” and “anyone near the Guadalupe River needs to move to higher ground now.” Kerr County Sheriff posted on its Facebook page for the first time about the flooding at 5:32 a.m.

At 6:22 a.m., the City Hall of Kerrville posted on Facebook: “Much needed rain swept through Kerrville overnight, but the downside is the severe weather may impact many of today’s scheduled July 4th events. Citizens are encouraged to exercise caution when driving and avoid low water crossings. Kerrville Police and Fire Department personnel are currently assessing emergency needs.” At 6:33 a.m. it posted about road closures due to flooding. At 7:32 a.m. it posted: “If you live along the Guadalupe River, please move to higher ground immediately.“

Kidd — the Texas Emergency Management Chief — said the boats and other equipment that was pre-positioned started responding immediately, although he did not specify at what time. “Those were put immediately into use as soon as the rain fell and the 911 calls started coming in. They were already here,” he said.

Speaking on Friday, Lt. Gov. Patrick said there were 14 helicopters, 12 drones, nine rescue teams as well as “swimmers in the water rescuing adults and children out of trees.” He said there were 400 to 500 people on the ground helping with the rescue effort.

Search and rescue operations continued through the night, according to Kerrville City Manager Rice, who said the teams were relying a lot on helicopters and using specialized equipment that detect heat sources to help find stranded people.

Again, at this point I feel vehemently obligated to remind my readers that these are answers, excuses for the fact that MAGA Republican ideology here in rural Texas is anti-Public Safety. Why? Because they do not believe that “public safety” is adequately or appropriately utilized and costs far too much tax-payer dollars. That lame reasoning is not thoroughly examined here either. Please keep this in mind.

Saturday, July 5th:
At around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Rice said “boots on the ground operations” were able to begin. The teams started southwest of Hunt, Texas — southwest of Camp Mystic — and “these folks will be traveling very difficult terrain … and we’re going to start getting information,” he said at a press conference on Saturday morning.

Officials said more than 1,000 local, state and federal personnel were on the ground helping with the rescue operation.

On Saturday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott said one word has been used more than any during this natural disaster: Prayer. “All we know is that prayer does work,” he said. 😂🤣😂🤣

Right, tell that to the 8-year old, 9-year old, 10-year old, and 11-year old girls of Camp Mystic who prayed before going to bed late Thursday night, July 3rd. Tell that to their parents and their families. Pffft, whatever you moron. 😠😒🤦‍♂️ Have you gone to those parents’ home who lost their little girls to “pray with them?” No, you have not and you will not. Just shut up and close your mouth Mr. Abbott.

I hope to finish Part III very soon. Thanks for your patience; stay tuned.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

Deadly Texas Hill Country Floods – July 4, 2025

Posted on July 7, 2025 by Professor Taboo

This has turned out to be Part I of an unknown series-number that I hope to keep short and finished soon.

Some of you who follow my blog may not have known just how closely my Alzheimer’s mom and I live to the banks of the Guadalupe River. Here’s a Google Maps view:

We live about 1,050–1,080 feet from the banks of the Guadalupe River. Here is how the river looked July 4th at approximately 3:00am to 4:30am CST and hours after:

*Over 26-feet of water raised the Guadalupe River in less than 1-hour*. The river crested at 30-feet above normal.

This was a very close call for us and our neighbors. However, having lived here in Kerrville, Texas, since 1996, Mom and I know full well how quickly this Hill Country can flood to dangerous, lethal levels. It has happened here many times going back to at least the early 1930’s. Anyone who has lived in Kerr County for a number of years, or decades, KNOWS what happened July 4-5, 2025, can occur in the spring/early-summer months when weather is quite volatile. And with extreme Climate Change weather events occurring around the globe more and more over the last 40-50 years, I am fully aware and many of our good dear friends in the area that are (very?) well-educated with good critical-thinking skills, consistent sound reasoning, and are not anti-science or hyper-religious know completely how vulnerable our area really is in which we live. Honestly, these weather events are NOT rocket science, but merely knowledge and education received during middle school called Earth Science classes.

However, those 4th- thru 8th-grade classes cover the core basics, but more than enough for a quality understanding of Earth’s climate and weather systems and how they work and are all linked together. Furthermore, a deeper understanding can easily be achieved if the person(s) want and desire to be very well-informed and more highly educated. In this area of Texas doing so is extremely wise! Your life could depend on it!

This is what is fully known by 7th- and 8th-generation Texans like myself and Mom, who are very well-educated with under-grad and post-grad educations and more importantly believe and trust science, particularly the Earth Sciences, Climate Change, meteorology, ecology, and atmospheric sciences and how they all interact. Again, in this area of Texas knowing these sciences thoroughly well could save your life.

Alright, enough of being a very highly educated 8th-generation Texan living in a volatile weather area of Texas. Let’s examine more broadly what took place prior to July 4-5 last autumn in October–November 2024 and thereafter, what occurred July 2-3 with the local National Weather Service, and now after the catastrophe and fatalities of over 47 people, many children… what is being said, claimed, blamed, and defended publicly by our Texas politicians and officials.

*https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/video-congressman-chip-roy-praises-central-texas-flood-response/3878753/*

Congressman Chip Roy is our Republican representative in Texas’ 21st congressional district which includes Kerr County. Mr. Roy is originally from Bethesda, Maryland, not Texas. Mr. Roy has a long political history with Texas Senator John Cornyn (R), former Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) and by default former Texas Governor and U.S. President George W. Bush (R), and with current Senator Ted Cruz (R) and many other ultra-conservative MAGA-supporting politicians.

If you watched the above video of Rep. Chip Roy the day after the horrific tragedy along the Guadalupe in Hunt, Ingram, Kerrville, Center Point, and further down river to Comfort, Texas, this was one of the first things Mr. Roy stated on camera to America and the world:

“…there is going to be a lot of finger-pointing and blaming of what should’ve been done and what wasn’t done.”

This was stated less than 1-2 minutes in his opening remarks. Why start off the news briefing that way less-than 30-hours after the deadly tragedy? Couldn’t there have been several other positive remarks to be made first? It begs the question, was he speaking to families of victims, ordinary local Texans, or was he speaking to a world-wide and nation-wide audience and all their spotlights and cameras as if on stage? Was that really comforting to hurting families and Texans? Was it at all helpful?

Mr. Roy, Gov. Gregg Abbott, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha, Kerr County City Manager Dalton Rice and others sitting down, and all the other “attending officials” standing behind the sitting panel quickly began praising their political colleagues and authorities for their incredible efforts and response times, bragging and boasting about them doing their jobs with excellence.

I began to get sick to my stomach listening to these so-called political and public safety officials sitting and standing proudly in front of all the cameras and news media and asked, Why aren’t all of you out there helping clean-up, helping rescue efforts do more and doing it for hours upon hours upon more hours rather than bathing proudly in front of cameras? I had to walk out of the room. I couldn’t stomach their arrogance and egomania to the news media. 🤢🤮

The Before, During, and After Events & Facts

October–November 2024:
It is very well-known that in the early designs of our federal, state, county, and local governments, the process of legislation, voting, and representative-based system of officials serving the public—not their own interests—working with and protecting our citizenry, its public safety needs, its infrastructure required to keep citizens safe and protected, and that in a true and pure democracy us individual legal citizens must constantly participate in our government’s ruling and regulating this county, state, and nation at least every two-years. You must get up, get out and go vote for the best political-government officials. Citizens have the biannual responsibility to do their own homework and legwork to cast their vote for the most ideal, most experienced, most honorable and public-serving officials available. This honor, duty, and virtue can never be done right by taking the easy way out: like voting strictly party-line that takes 5-minutes at the polls, or spending 1-hour or less skimming over the candidate profiles, or worse still… by NOT voting at all!

Shamefully and sadly nearly 90-million Americans registered to vote did not go vote last October–November 2024 during one of this nation’s most critical elections to-date. Texas voters are some of the worst active voters in the nation, usually with only 34%–38% turnout rates every two years. And that has been the case in Texas since the 1970’s and 1980’s. The rural Texas areas, like Kerr County, are often lower turnout rates than 38%.

The consequences of this apathy and voting indifference by American voters last fall have directly and indirectly had domino-effects on many public safety, public programs, and not-for-profit organizations. Agencies nation-wide are now being felt personally by Americans as well as Texans in the Hill Country due to the apathy of voting citizens and the horrendous budget cuts and gutting of public safety agencies, staffing, and programs.

[ ** Note ** — I had to stop writing/drafting this post because we just began receiving more NWS Flash Flooding alerts and warnings on my cell phone and local newscasts again at around 2:30pm CST July 6th due to the North Fork of the Guadalupe River (near Hunt, TX) has another surge of water coming down to us in Kerrville, TX. Hopefully, I will return to this post shortly.]

I’m back. It is about 8:40am, July 7th. All afternoon yesterday and into the late evening after receiving two or three NWS Flash Flood alerts on my cell phone informing us and Kerrville residents close to the Guadalupe River to move to higher ground or evacuate your location if near the swollen river banks. The NWS alert told us that the North Fork of the Guadalupe was about to have a dangerous water surge northwest of and into Hunt, TX, see images below.

*Guadalupe at Ingram, TX, Hwy 39 and Hwy 27 junction*

*Guadalupe River down river at Hwy 27/Junction Hwy and our home.*

How large or how high the surge was going to be was not, at that moment, exactly known. The surge was expected to hit Hunt, TX, at their Guadalupe River point near downtown in 20-mins or so. That is approximately 15-18 minutes up river from us/our home. Not yet knowing how high/large the water surge would be I immediately began making preparations for my 85-year old Alzheimer’s mom and I to either quickly evacuate the property complex, or if we could not exit out onto Junction Hwy/Hwy 27—there’s only one entrance/exit for our property—so I then made preparations for a Plan B… climbing up the closest, strongest oak tree in front of our porch getting up at least 6-7 feet higher than our sidewalk and front porch. Mom was going to be the very difficult rescue; she has no physical strength at her age. Given the very short period of time I had this was the best I could do in 15-minutes.

About 35-45 minutes later I found out from local TV news and weather updates what the expected surge-height would be: no more than 11-feet. That was great news! During the night/early hours of July 4th the surge was 23-26 feet, cresting at 30-feet. I had roughly calculated that if this second surge would be upwards of 45-feet or more… we were probably in big trouble. As luck would have it, we were still safe.

I will pause here for the moment given the unexpected length of this blog-post and the volatility we’ve had over the last three/four days and nights. I will try my best to post Part II very soon…

A late update and clarification – July 7, 1:25pm CST:

Regarding stalled thunderstorm vortexes in Texas, these have been rare. The commonly used term over the last several decades is a “100-year Storm.” However, these events are becoming more and more common place and frequent. They have become what is currently classified as Mesoscale Convective Vortex or stalled low-pressure thunderstorm system(s).

Important Considerations of a MCV:

Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV): A low-pressure center within a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that can pull winds into a circling pattern. MCVs can persist for hours after the MCS dissipates and can even become the nucleus for a tropical storm.

Stalled Storms: Stalled storm systems can cause significant flooding due to repeated heavy rainfall over the same areas. An example is the extraordinary rainfall in Texas in July 2025.

Defining “Stalled Thunderstorm Vortex”: It’s possible that the concept of a “stalled thunderstorm vortex” refers to a longer-lasting mesovortex within a thunderstorm complex, leading to PROLONGED severe weather conditions in a particular area over several hours.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

Rural Texas More Fatal

Posted on February 10, 2024 by Professor Taboo

Earlier this week I took one of our Toyota vehicles to be inspected for an eventual auto registration renewal. While there at the auto shop I had a rumor heard days earlier which turned out to be confirmed as fact.

On June 13, 2023 the Texas Legislature has given final approval to House Bill 3297.

Supporters of the bill [Republicans] called the safety inspections time consuming and inconvenient. Opponents of the bill [Democrats and Independents] say it could set Texas drivers, and future Texans, on a dangerous path. […]

Texas highways are notoriously dangerous. At least one person dies on a Texas highway each day. According to the most recent state data, 4,489 people were killed in auto crashes in Texas during 2021, or about 1.56 deaths per 100,000 miles traveled by drivers. That’s up from 1.36 deaths per 100,000 in 2017.
— The texas tribune, june 2023, accessed 2/10/2024 at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/01/texas-car-safety-inspection-changes/

Starting in 2025 Texas will not require (by law) any of its 23+ million vehicles to be annually inspected as “safe and environmentally friendly” except in just 17 Texas counties. Yes, you read that correctly. I kid you not! If I want to drive a vehicle that spews out a shitload of black smoke carbon monoxide, in 2025 Texas, I will be allowed to do that unimpeded and with no serious consequences unless pulled over by law-enforcement and given a small citation, a slap on the hand.

*Downtown Kerrville, TX at Sidney Baker St. (Hwy 16) and Main St. (Hwy 27) looking SW*

Yes, over the last 20+ years it has become glaringly obvious that this 21st-century Lone Star State, Texas government, very sadly, very shamefully craves to be in national and global news limelight and headlines weekly. If it is negative, especially ugly, and the news tarnishes the state’s already suffering and declining reputation, they bask in the attention. Texas’ craving for worse keeps increasing as the state turns more and more radical MAGA with more out-of-state MAGA radicals moving here every month. And I haven’t mentioned yet what two elderly ~~white~~ Kerrville men openly discussed with the entire lobby waiting area and the part-owner of the shop, boldly and out loud to everyone there.

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Fair warning. This is going to be a lengthy rant, fed-up, irritated blog-post about rural Texans. If you’d rather not read about my high-level of frustration, then I politely suggest skipping this read and move on. No harm taken. 🙂 The reality, however, is that this gripe must be made known if for no other reason than to recalibrate the mass mental delusions of specific rural Texans that audaciously boast abusively of this state’s “many perfections.” The attitude is certainly laughable, but also quite disturbing that they believe it, wholeheartedly.

Once the ~~white~~ lady, who’s part-owner of the auto shop, explained the change in vehicle inspections for January 2025, one of the aforementioned ~~white~~ cowboys said aloud, “That shows you how stupid those legislatures are in Austin.” It was a peculiar thing to say and surprised me a little. I kept listening in order to better ascertain what he meant. Why? Because most all of the current Texas Congress, both the Senate and the House, are totally dominated by Republicans (see above diagram)! Over the last 15-20 years about 85% to 99% of Conservative Republican laws get easily passed. Was he calling our Republican dominated legislatures stupid?

The other ~~white~~ cowboy chimed in as he was the more vocal of everyone talking and almost agonizingly long-winded. Then before I knew it, they were quickly onto open-carry, pro-guns, and pro-Second Amendment. They moved so quick to this subject/debate I totally missed the segue from vehicle inspections to “the right to bear arms!” ~~White~~ Cowboy #2 sitting near me proclaimed that “every gun-owner should be combat trained.” What? I thought to myself with a bewildered expression, you mean like trained in military combat? Special Forces Black Ops? What the hell!? I wanted to speak up and say to him, Sir, isn’t that a closer step to a Police State? But I refrained, i.e. choose your battles on your terms.

A little disturbed that the open lobby discussion took a bad turn, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. I said sternly to ~~white~~ Cowboy #2, “that is exactly what our school teachers are now required to be.” He responded with a simple, sort of dismissive yes. He turned his attention back to ~~white~~ Cowboy #1 and the part-owner lady behind the counter who was sharing a frightening story she had recently in Austin with her daughter inside the vehicle with her. It was a case of road rage by a man up on her door window and windshield cussing her up, down, left, and right while giving her the middle finger. She put her purse—with a pistol inside—on her dashboard. The man slacked off his tantrum she said, but the red-light in which they were stopped was turning green.

Yes my readers/Followers, this is a common occurrence in rural Kerrville, Texas, or Austin. I am not embellishing in the least.

Finally, our Toyota Avalon’s state inspection was finished, but not before the ~~white~~ part-owner lady and ~~white~~ Cowboy #2 spouted off that “they,“ meaning our federal government and anti-violence, pro-gun-reforms, liberal Americans, “will never take our guns in Texas.” Because I was leaving, I painfully held my tongue. I wanted to say while walking out, That’s an all too common misnomer people. All of you can have as many 18^th-century flint-lock muskets and pistols as your gun-worshipping hearts desire! But I was polite and wished the two ~~white~~ ladies behind the counter a good day and departed.

*2600 block of Junction Hwy (27), just about 0.5 mile from our home*. In this portion of the highway there are a minimum of 12 access & egress points inside just 240 ft of highway along with a middle suicide lane.

These sorts of road hazards and mentally unstable, poor ~~white~~ drivers in rages have become a frequent event and dangerous problem here. Just for me, since moving back to Kerrville in August 2021 for my Mom’s severe Dementia/Early-Alzheimer’s, driving around Kerrville’s four main highways—Hwy 27, Hwy 16, CR 783, and Spur 98; see slideshow below—I have been in almost five (5) auto accidents! Of those five, two of them came within 1-2 feet of each other’s cars/trucks, both cases were at red-light intersections where I had a green-light right-of-way in the left lane, and they only had a flashing yellow arrow to turn left in front of me.

Other near accidents were once again, my green-light right-of-ways, in the right lane this instance, and a big monster-wheeled dually diesel truck with cow-bars and flatbed trailer hitched to the rear… was to my right at the intersection. As I was moving into the intersection, speed limit is 45mph, I was doing about 43-44, this ~~white~~ redneck pulls into my lane in front of me going perhaps 10-12mph… because he had paused in his right-turn lane with a “Yield” sign in front of him (slide #3 below), he impatiently chose to pull out in front of me anyway. I had to slam on my brakes, again. I sat on my horn for a good 10-15 seconds. Are there THAT many blind or nearly blind drivers everywhere? How do they obtain driver’s licenses, much less afford auto insurance? Following are some of my other near accidents in this very dangerous, ~~white~~ redneck town.

Main St & Francisco Lemos, Kerrville
Junction Hwy (27) & Spur 98, Kerrville
Junction Hwy (27) & Spur 98, Kerrville
Junction Hwy (27) & Harper Rd (783), Kerrville
Holdsworth & Paschal, Kerrville

We use the State Farm Drive Safe & Save app in order to save as much money as possible each month in these hard inflationary times. We’ve been on it now for over a year. Of the five different driving categories State Farm tracks via Bluetooth beacon and satellite, two of the categories—Hard Braking and Quick Accelerating—I get flagged or punished for my sudden reactive defensive driving so I won’t slam into these many idiotic bad drivers. Every time I slam on my brakes, we must pay more on our monthly premium. It is beyond infuriating that I am having to pay more for so many crazy bad drivers here! 😡 However, based on a 6-month to 6-month average of scores, we do still pay a lot less than we did without the app.

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I decided to do a little research on this motor vehicle nightmare in Texas and rural Texas counties. I found some depressing statistics, e.g. image left. Texas also led the nation in 2020, 2021, and 2022. We lost the number one spot to Mississippi in 2023, but fell only one slot: #2.

What are the primary causes of fatal deaths or maiming of drivers and passengers on Texas roads and highways? According to multiple Texas law firms specializing in vehicular damages, the top four causes of fatalities are 1) running off the road crashes, 2) stop-light intersections, 3) distracted driving (cell phones), and 4) DUI crashes, or Driving Under the Influence of drugs or alcohol.

It is also worthy to note that #5 is motorcycle accidents where 45% of all “chopper riders” are not wearing helmets. This is also a very frequent occurrence on Kerrville roads and highways. The rebel biker-chopper culture is huge here! There seem to be biker rallies here every other month, but mostly from May to September. The noise that 15, 20, or 30 bikers together make on our highways sounds like a freight-train on your porch. Your windows are literally vibrating. And NO! I am not exaggerating. Here are more statistical facts from vehicular damage law-firms of how deadly Texas roads and highways truly are:

*Kerrville man killed on Hwy 16 just outside of Kerrville from speeding motorist head-on collision*

Therefore, what’s the moral of this ranting story? What’s the takeaway? It is exactly this:

Absolutely do NOT believe what most ~~white~~ Texans brag or arrogantly boast how great or incredible Texas-living is about. They are lying or not telling the entire picture or truth. Remember, I am an 8^th-generation Texan. My ancestors have lived here a long, long time, and I have lived most of my life here and watched how downhill and deteriorating this state has gone. It is not pretty. There’s not much hope it will reverse, or change anytime soon.
Every other time or third-time you drive on Texas roads or highways, you are literally risking your life or bodily harm and vehicular damages. In my last 20-years here I have noticed how horribly dangerous our streets and roads have become. It is a STARK difference from 1994.
And this is only about two aspects of living in rural ~~white~~ redneck Texas where too many radical MAGA Republicans reside and freely, rudely express their rage and anger with either vehicles and/or guns/weapons at anyone and everyone.

If someone you know is considering moving their family to Texas, rural Texas in particular, share this post and information with them quickly along with my many other blog-posts about the reality of rural Texas living. As a matter of fact, share not only these motor vehicle dangers, but also these seven (7) reasons NOT to live in Kerrville, TX or most all rural towns in Texas spoken from a residing Texan. They’re all the same problems statewide:

Lack of urban amenities – little to do except eat or eat or eat, and drink alcohol. Boring.
Very limited diverse Job Opportunities – mostly ranching, construction, or retail.
Very limited diverse Education & Institutions – only one high school and one tiny private Christian college.
Extreme Climate swings & Allergies: Cedar in winter, pollen in spring, and ongoing developmental pollution! Also, drinking water contamination due to these conditions.
Lack of diverse Scenery – essentially just one type: predictable Hill Country.
Decaying Community and Family Values – simply drive on Main St/Junction Hwy for 12-36 months and you will risk vehicular and/or bodily harm 1-out-of-2 times on the roads/highways. Some of the RUDEST or UNSAFE drivers anywhere else in a Texas small town!
High Cost Housing & Real Estate Market – and it’s still rising. This negatively expands the economic inequality gap in Fair Housing. And Property Taxes are high as well!