Driven by recent disasters and rising risk, communities including Kerr County and the city of San Marcos are applying digital tools to protect lives and infrastructure.
In Kerr County, officials are moving forward with a new flood warning system in partnership with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. The project follows deadly flooding in July and includes rain and stream gauges, predictive software, and siren-based alerts. County leaders are considering using reserve funds to move forward independently due to delays in state-level funding.
The river authority has committed up to $1.5 million from reserves toward the system, which is expected to integrate live sensor data with National Weather Service forecasts. Upgrades to communications infrastructure are also being explored to ensure consistent data flow from remote areas.
In San Marcos, the city is seeking $4.78 million in grants and interest-free loans through the Texas Water Development Board to fund a package of flood mitigation technology projects, including $2.5 million for a real-time flood warning system and $1.9 million for modernized hydrologic and hydraulic modeling.
City officials say the upgrades will improve alert capabilities and support compliance with current rainfall intensity standards.
At the state level, the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) has launched a new cooperative contracts category specifically for flood early warning systems, aimed at streamlining procurement of flood detection and communication technologies.
The request for offers, released under DIR’s Cooperative Contracts Program, covers a wide array of technologies including stream and precipitation sensors, radar-level and ultrasonic monitoring equipment, GIS-based modeling software and real-time telemetry systems. DIR is also seeking emergency notification platforms and software tools for real-time monitoring, data integration and alert dissemination.
This story originally appeared in Industry Insider — Texas, which is part of e.Republic, Government Technology's parent company.
