As far back as 2016, officials considered a $1 million siren and gauge system to warn both locals and the flood-prone region's many visitors, the Texas Tribune reported.
But despite multiple meetings and FEMA grant applications, funding efforts repeatedly stalled, first due to missing mitigation plans, then due to shifting priorities after Hurricane Harvey.
In 2021, the Biden administration awarded Kerr County $10.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which could have been used for flood prevention infrastructure.
But commissioners, facing political pressure from conservative residents, opted not to pursue a warning system.
At an April 2022 meeting, one citizen called the White House a "criminal treasonous communist government," urging the county to reject the money altogether.
While the county ultimately kept the funds, they allocated the majority, about $8 million, to sheriff's department upgrades and public employee stipends.
"It's the thing I could do even if it's the last thing I do," said Howard, who is battling stage four cancer. »