Texas Flood this weekend

[netboy]

Amazing video of a wall of water coming down the Guadalupe River near Kerrville. Reports now say at least 67 dead and 11 kids still missing from a girl's camp along the river. What a tragedy and it happened on a holiday weekend.

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[snagged in outlet 3]

It's very sad!   It's not just the water but the debris.  

[BilletHead]

             What is sad is last I heard 50 so far have died and still looking for the 24 young girls still missing. 

[netboy]

Timelapse video of the water coming up.

Timelapse video shows speed of floodwater rising in Texas | CNN

And a story from a survivor.

 

[netboy]

Death toll now 78 and still some missing.

Texas flooding updates: Statewide death toll now at least 78, say officials

[snagged in outlet 3]

18 minutes ago, netboy said:

Death toll now 78 and still some missing.

Texas flooding updates: Statewide death toll now at least 78, say officials

Initially we didn’t know it happened at night.   That had to be so scary to wake up to.  

[WestCentralFisher]

Incredibly tragic and so many heartbreaking stories.

And as someone who camps along rivers a lot, really scary. With gravel bar camping especially, flash flooding has always been on mind, but I don't think my current protocols would have been sufficient to save our lives in this scenario. 

My plan whenever I set up camp is to evaluate the terrain, make sure I am not in a super wide bottomland or even worse below bluffs. I identify a route to high ground and am ready to execute. And make sure I know exactly where my headlamp is when I turn in for the night. This has come up a few times in heavy rain and minor flash flood events. In all but one, it was a better safe than sorry type deal. Once, the river did overtake our camp, and we lost some gear. We were long gone by then, and got our canoes and kayaks out as well, but it was spooky enough to leave an impression. I know many on here likely have a similar or worse story. This type of plan will be enough to keep you alive more often than not in a typical or even relatively major event. 

But the Guadalupe came up an incomprehensible 25-30 feet in an hour. It was essentially an inland tsunami. If we were on a gravel bar, and waited until we detected water, I find it unlikely that we would have gotten out alive. Further, while increasingly urgent warnings did issue around 1 am, it sounds like earlier in the day, forecasts were only minimally concerning, the types of conditions so many times all of us have looked at and said "eh, it'll probably be fine." If you're lucky, maybe you hear the rain pouring and run up the hill just in case. But maybe the worst of it is up the watershed, and you either don't wake up until it's too late, or the rain you do hear isn't enough to concern you.

So what would have probably saved me? A portable, battery operated emergency weather radio, is about all I can think of. With hours of lead up, I could have almost definitely evacuated in time, most likely with most of my gear. I can't really think of anything else that would be reliably life-saving in this scenario. I will be purchasing one and bringing it with me on all future overnight trips. 

The geography in Texas hill country is obviously different, but the very narrow river valleys and steep slopes in many of our most popular float streams make these risks very real. If you float or camp this needs to be an incredibly tragic wake up call, because I fear a similar tragedy could happen here. 

[ness]

This guy is a STUD! And, humble.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/123529540

Surely a lot of others too, but I was really impressed with this guy.

 

[ollie]

At least 24' of water in an hour it rose. That is insane when you think about it. That is an average of 4 feet every 10 minutes. Now the death toll has gone even higher. I understand why there is so many campgrounds along that river since the water is so clear for the most part. Most of them are right by the river though so when the river gets going they are right in the path. And of course this was one of the busiest times of the year. If I had young kids, I think I would be hesitant to send them to one right on the river or creek after seeing this.

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, ness said:

This guy is a STUD! And, humble.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/123529540

Surely a lot of others too, but I was really impressed with this guy.

 

           Thanks for that John, have not seen this interview.