One year after catastrophic flooding killed more than 100 people along the Guadalupe River, another round of deadly July flooding swept across Central and South Texas, creating flash flood emergencies that forced evacuations and rescues along the Guadalupe and elsewhere, according to The Texas Tribune.
But while the two July storms were sometimes similar in intensity and effect, they unfolded in unique ways — swift and concentrated last year vs. multiple rounds of heavy rain over days across a broad region this week.
And while weather officials said they took the same approach to issuing warnings, residents and responders on the ground said they had more tools available to them and the motivation of anxiety borne from last year’s horrific tragedy.
The result: A dramatically lower death toll amid widespread and catastrophic flooding.
“I mean, it’s so fresh in everybody’s memory, about the flood and about being so surprised that it got that big and that it made it far and all that kind of stuff,” said Center Point resident Kay Steadham, who felt people took emergency alerts more seriously this go-around.
