Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Flooding photo
The unfolding tragedy in Central Texas is heartbreaking. My hat is off to the first responders, all of whom are putting themselves in harm’s way.
The massive flooding began while most residents were sound asleep around 4 am on Friday morning, July 4th. I cannot imagine the frightening scene. This story reminds us all about how ferocious and suddenly nature can go from beauty to unimaginable horror.
What should have been the start of a fun holiday weekend became a nightmare that was destructive and deadly. The latest death toll has exceeded 100, and 27 of those were connected to Camp Mystic, a camp that has existed along the Guadalupe River for generations of campers for nearly a century. At least two dozen, many of whom are children, are still missing.
The tragedy is in many ways a cautionary tale. How many of us have visited an idyllic place, gone hiking, river rafting, or camping along a river? We are not thinking of the potential danger. How many of us have gone to camp or have sent children to camp?
Having grown up in Dallas, I know this area of Texas – the Hill Country near Kerrville. It is lovely, beloved, and what Lady Bird Johnson cherished. The Hill Country has strong roots, a welcoming and calming feel, and luscious surroundings.
I attended camp as a child at Echo Hill Ranch, which is not that far from Camp Mystic. Echo Hill posted a statement that their camp is unscathed but as they wrote, their hearts go out to everyone, including our camp friends at Camp Mystic. We share their sorrow.
The world feels smaller right now. Even if we do not know someone directly there, the heartbreak is real.
As a former mayor, I have thought a great deal about prevention and preparedness. Emergency preparedness is critical to all of us, residents and visitors.
Perhaps this focus comes from my father. As a kid, I remember how he insisted that I pay attention to where the exits were in a hotel in case a fire broke out. He said that during an emergency, seconds matter and the halls might be dark due to smoke from a fire and a power outage and that I would need to know what to do. He said not to touch the door handle without using a towel in case it’s hot. He said that I should put on my sneakers and put a wet towel over my nose and mouth and stay very low as I go to the stairwell. My father was teaching me emergency planning. Know where the exits are without being able to see. He wanted me to think through things while everything was calm. That is the essence of emergency planning.
The truth is anything can happen at any time. It is unsettling to contemplate. But not to be prepared is a plan for failure. Emergency planning creates resilience for a community, a state, and a nation. It saves lives.
We can all remember in 2004 when an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 hit off the coast of Indonesia and created a tsunami that killed about 228,000 people. It was an unthinkable tragedy. After the devastation, governments, international organizations, and foundations joined forces and focused on a warning system and demanded far more disaster and emergency planning. In the two decades since that tragedy, the international warning system and preparation efforts have proven to be life-saving.
If you are in office at any level, public safety should be your top priority.
According to The New York Times, Kerr County officials considered but declined a budget allocation for a flash flood warning system. Budgetary pressure. Many didn’t want to raise taxes. Admittedly, it’s a small, rural community with about 55,000 residents and an annual budget of $67 million, according to The Times.
At the state level, things are even more concerning. In The Times’ story, “…lawmakers [at the state level] have so far allocated only a fraction of the money needed for flood projects through the state’s Flood Infrastructure Plan…even as state lawmakers this year approved $51 billion in property tax cuts.”
What is more important than public safety?
Localities like Kerr County, known as “Flash Flood Alley,” must have support from state and federal coffers. This is what an earmark on Capitol Hill used to address. State and federal officials should provide significant resources for communities at risk.
The bottom line: the public is counting on those in office to allocate resources necessary to protect communities. Public safety is mission critical.
Many of the projects that we approved during my time as mayor were under ground and invisible to the public but were crucial to our city’s infrastructure and safety, including a vote for a long-delayed approval of addressing my city’s historic Combined Sewer Outfalls (CSO). The outfalls pollute the Potomac River every time we have nearly an inch of rain. It was controversial because addressing all the CSOs was five times more expensive than anything else in the history of Alexandria. Our residents had to shoulder a long-term increase in fees in order to stop polluting the river, but it was the right thing to do. After approval, I went to Richmond and Capitol Hill three times to seek support, setting up future commitments for some of the cost, thereby reducing some of the burden on our residents. Kerr County could do the same.
For Kerr County, installing a warning siren system, which would warn of tornadoes and flooding, is mission critical. We should not allow such a tragedy to occur there again. I have been in Dallas when tornado sirens go off. It certainly gets everyone’s attention. This must be addressed.
There are steps that each of us can take.
If you are an elected official anywhere in the country, look hard at the flooding in Texas as a cautionary tale. Emergency planning must be a constant priority. I began my mayoral term with a tabletop exercise where I led a meeting of our city’s senior staff and all the public safety leadership to ensure that key personnel knew their role in case of an emergency and that they had the current contact information for each other because, in the event of a crisis, people in these roles must know what to do and how to reach each other instantly. There is no time to go to your office and grab a binder off the shelf to figure out what to do or whom to call. Seconds matter. All city staff must know what to do. Every city or county leader can lead a similar exercise.
If you are a resident, push for action to ensure planning and safety measures. Join or create your area’s emergency planning committee.
Our hearts go out to all those affected by this tragedy in Kerr County and at Camp Mystic. If you would like to support humanitarian efforts, many local efforts, such as the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, created by the Communities Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, have been established. In addition, there are well-known national relief organizations to consider supporting.
Photo courtesy of Allison Silberberg
Former Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg
Allison Silberberg is a writer and public affairs/public policy consultant. She served as mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, 2016-2019. Her work includes working on staff on Capitol Hill for Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen (D-TX). She is the author of “Visionaries In Our Midst: Ordinary People who are Changing our World,” which hit #1 on Amazon’s List for Philanthropy & Charity. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, on PBS.org.
