Jeb Bladine: Tragic Texas flooding delivers universal lesson

Today’s instant multi-media bounces our eyes, ears and brains fleetingly from one disaster to the next, assaulting our senses and emotions, then moving on. In the wake of those continual reports, mental numbing becomes a defense mechanism against persistent sorrow.

Since July 4, national news has focused on tragic flooding in the Hill Country of central Texas, with latest reports confirming 120 deaths and more than 160 persons missing. The most horrific images were flood aftermath scenes from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for young girls at Hunt, Texas, where at least two dozen campers and counselors were swept away in the dark early morning of Independence Day.

Hunt is 12 miles from Kerrville, Texas, where the same Guadalupe River reportedly rose 32 feet in 90 minutes, causing widespread destruction and many dozens of deaths.

It was enough to stop my brain for a closer, albeit distressful look. My late-cousin once lived in Kerrville, and an old friend lives there today. I called him, learning that his home on higher ground a mile from the river left him personally protected, but with a heart agonizing along with the entire Kerrville community.

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Howard went to bed at midnight July 3, welcoming the rainfall to long-drought-ridden Kerrville. He awoke at 6 a.m., surprised by the extraordinary continuation of that rainfall — it was a few hours before he learned of the devastating flood covering a quarter-mile along the river … the catastrophe at Camp Mystic … total obliteration of the beautiful lowland park where people from miles around would have been gathering for Fourth of July festivities … the widespread deaths and destruction in Kerr County and beyond.

Kerr County is a longtime Texas flash flood epicenter, with reports dating back to 1900, 1909, and the deadly flooding events of 1932, 1987, 2002 and more.

In 2002, Kerrville officials began serious talks on the need for improved flood-warning systems. Reports from The Kerrville Daily Times describe a similar focus in 2016-17, resurfacing in 2024-25. A story two months ago reported that Kerr County Commissioners endorsed “planning for a countywide flood warning system.”

This week in the Times, a letter from a reader in nearby Fredericksburg pleaded:

“For pity’s sake, use your tax dollars to get a loud siren system at all the summer camps along the rivers to go off at the first sign of the next heavy rains. If you don’t, the flooding record shows that this tragedy will happen again and again. And then, all the state officials in their pretty uniforms will convene afterwards lying that they did all they possibly could in preventing it. And your district judge will also say once again, it just couldn’t be prevented.”

“This is not time for partisan finger pointing,” said Texas U.S. Sen. Cruz said. While correct about partisanship, Cruz is wrong about the need for proper finger pointing and resolute action soon after disastrous events. It’s a lesson we all can take from Kerrville, Texas, 2025:

If not now, when?

Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.