Central Texas is Flooding, Again

Let me take you back to 2018, a year that saw the second year of Trump’s Presidency; the Philadelphia Eagles winning their first Super Bowl in franchise history; the release of Marvel’s Black Panther; the end of the Kepler Space Telescope mission; and the “14 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: two tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two winter storms, drought, and wildfires,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA.

Pre-COVID era was still wild, huh?

One of those disasters I want to spotlight today to bring awareness not only to this event in general, but to bring context for current events. Thankfully this 2018 flood event didn't reach a billion dollars in damage, but it was still a historic event; a ‘100 - year flood’. It occurred in central Texas’ Llano River, a place very close to home for me. An area that, just last week, experienced another historic flood with catastrophic loss of life.

On Friday, October 16th, 2018, after a week of heavy rainfall from two separate hurricane remnants and a flood in Junction, Texas on the 9th that saw 3 people lose their lives, the Llano river would burst its banks cresting at 40 feet; the highest in almost 80 years.

This flooding prompted the opening of ten flood gates on the Wirtz and Starcke Dam in the hopes to ease the strain, but the river was already tearing into homes and sending docks, rivercrafts, trees, and boulders downstream.

And then, in the tiny town of Kingsland - a place my family and I moved to only a few months prior - residents witnessed the collapse of the 2900 bridge, a structure made of concrete and steel pilings that was built to withstand a 100-year flood level. A major roadway that connected the two halves of the town.

Me and my family were lucky. We’d moved into a place on a hill, high up and away from the riverbanks closer to the center of the town. But all the places along the river? Devastated. Ruined. Destroyed.

The only good news that came out was the very low death count of 4 individuals.

I can still remember the shock. I was used to the occasional flood - living in the flash flood valley in central Texas will desensitize you to those events - but this? It was a one-in-a-lifetime natural disaster.

At least, that’s what we believed.

Fast forward to today, July 15th, 2025, and the flash flood alley of central Texas is experiencing the aftermath of another historic flood that occurred in the early morning hours of July 4th, one that has killed 133 people - 36 of which are children - according to ABC news. 101 people are still missing.

Here is where you might be asking: “Why were so many more people killed in this flood compared to 2018?” I asked the same thing, and here’s what I found:

• Like I said above, when you live in this area long enough, you get used to flood warnings, so some people may have dismissed the alerts given.

• Most warnings were given online, on social media accounts, and on phones. However, the hardest hit area, Kerrville, has many areas with little to no cell phone coverage, and the girl’s camp that was hit even had a policy of not allowing ANY cellphones or electronic devices.

• This flood wall hit the Kerrville area at 5:34 am, the same time the major alert went out. Most people between 1 am and 5 am are deep asleep, which just so happened to be the window that these earlier warnings were going out.

This video by CBC news’ Andrew Chang does an incredible job of showing and outlining the reasons for the high amount of casualties, including discussing the current warning systems and budget cuts that may have added to the death count.

And to put the flood itself into context: we received MONTHS worth of rain in just 24 hours. According to a USGS gauge on the Guadalupe at Kerrville, it reported at 6:15 am on July 4th that the river rose 24 feet in one hour. By 6:45 am, 30 minutes west of Kerrville in Hunt, Texas, the gauge there reached its highest point – 34 feet, an increase of 32 feet in an hour and 45 minutes.

The numbers and statistics can only say so much. At the end of the day, over a hundred people lost their lives, with the death total going up every day since the July 4th flood, especially as the region is still experiencing record rainfall making rescue efforts even more perilous.

I could discuss the need for more flood prevention measures, the incompetence of government officials, or the desperate need for the installations of sirens along these flood-prone rivers in central Texas. But today, I’d rather praise and uplift the first responders, and put as many eyes on relief funds for the people who have suffered the most from this catastrophic flood.

So, in the spirit of Vocal, and of creative writing in general, I’d like to make a call to action to my fellow writers.

Join me by writing a poem to honor those lost, those being found, and those putting their lives at risk to help others. It can be any format, any style, any length. You could channel your anger, your grief; you could even make a poem about the consequences of climate change; global warming, ect.

The only requirement that I ask is that you put a link to this article somewhere before or after your poem, and that you link the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund there too!

The point here is to bring awareness to this tragedy, and to hopefully raise money for a good cause through the power of human creativity.

I will be doing my best to link any and all poems here as well for those who wish to go through and offer support, so make sure to share your link below! I will not be highlighting poems made with AI. You must write it yourself.

For even more ways to support the flood relief efforts, you can check out this exhaustive list provided by CBS news.

References & Links to more information

• KVUE looks back on 2018 flood, 2900 bridge details
• NOAA’s Flood Glossary, Terms used during Floods
• NOAA’s 2018 Billion Dollar Natural Disasters
• Texas A&M University System Disasters, year by year summaries
• NPR’s Timeline of the 2025 July Flood, response details
• KXAN looks back on 2018 flood, detailed timeline
• ABC 2025 Texas Flood Death Toll