It is called flash flood alley for a reason. Living in the Hill country is beautiful but comes with some inherent dangers… not unlike the wild fires in California spurred on by the Santa Ana winds…
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I wish that I was as hopeful as you that we will get answers. Unfortunately, I fear we will get more obfuscation a la Uvalde.
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Our state has lahar and tsunami warning systems. Both types of events are catastrophic and quite fast moving, but somehow it was decided that it makes sense to have a warning system. If flash floods are know to hit the area, wouldn’t it make sense to invest in some kind of a warning system? Just wondering. 
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Yes, that would make sense.
It would make sense but the community didn’t want to pay for it.
“ During a news conference early Friday morning, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said he didn’t know why the camps hadn’t been evacuated, but that the county did not have an early warning system or outdoor sirens to alert people to flooding conditions.
“We’ve looked into it before … The public reeled at the cost,” Kelly said.”
And from the same article, the timeline shows a three hour lead time:
“The NWS said that on the morning of July 3, the office in Austin/San Antonio held forecast briefings for emergency management and issued a Flood Watch that afternoon. The NWS said Flash Flood Warnings were issued on the night of July 3 and in the early morning of July 4, “giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before warning criteria were met.””
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This is from my husband who worked in dam management as his job
If a dam produces electricity, it would be subject to federal law, which should require a warning system. All of the dams he worked at, the public utility paid for the warning system.
Texas as I remember is not part of the federal power grid. I don’t know if their electric generating dams are subject to federal regulations.
I did read that the dams did have their spillways open, which they would as not to cause a dam failure. There could be a lot of water going downstream and not have a dam breach. I guess we will find out in the future.
So sad for all of these poor people caught up in this mess. Having it on a holiday weekend, at night is the worse case scenario.
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I checked in with a friend who used to send her girls to Camp Mystic (one was a counselor after attending for years as a child) after I heard that the director had perished trying to save some campers. She said her niece was there, got caught in the water swell, and survived by clinging to a tree, with the help of the director’s son.
We will probably be hearing many more stories of harrowing close calls, not only at the camp, but in the general area at large. Of course, we’ll also hear the tragic stories as well.
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Many of the dams in this area are over 100 years old and need to be repaired. I do not know anything about the dam near Camp Mystic but if you look up the dam break at Lake Dunlap a few years ago you can get an idea.
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Here is the dam break at Lake Dunlap ( part of the guadalupe river system).
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Wow.
I edited my post above, but a Kerrville journalist whose paper published the report that they found two girls alive today just said that the story wasn’t true. 
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Note that the dam failure in the video occurred in 2019.
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That is exactly what the poster said in the post directly above the one with the video.
Yes. The video shows the date 2019. This dam was built in the early 1900’s. Definitely need some infrastructure work all along the Guadalupe river.
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This is so unimaginably tragic. My heart goes out to all of these families, and I can’t stop thinking about the terror these little girls must have felt in their last moments. It is truly horrifying.
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The only thing about infrastructure like dam repair and warning systems (and a fully-staffed National Weather Service) is that this is what taxes are for. If a state’s voters want the lowest possible taxes that is incompatible with highest quality services.
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The NWS would not have helped in this particular disaster. This was a local issue that was complicated by communication problems. There were several other camps that got their people out because they were paying attention to the weather reports.
As for infrastructure issues …. Not limited to states with low taxes. There are many areas in the US with similar problems but are not national news because no loss of life.
As for some of the dams on the Guadalupe… after the Dunlap failure several are now in the process of getting updated and repaired.
There is no easy or quick fix.
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There’s been no confirmation that there was a dam breach in this instance
For every person who wants to take out the dams, there’s another who likes what the dam provides. They fish, they live on the dam pond. They enjoy water sports. They camp.
Taking out one dam is hugely expensive. Who’s going to pay? The government? The utility company will do what they are ordered to do. They will pass that expense to their customers. Is that something customers want to pay for? That’s not up to me but the general consensus is that they don’t.
It’s cheaper to maintain a dam than it is to tear it out. Dams are safe if they are maintained and are federally regulated.
I think I’ve said enough about dams 
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I was reading this morning a bit about the boy’s camps there and the heroic efforts by their staff to save the boys - sounded like all were saved. Does anyone know how far apart the boys and girls camp lodging was/is? Were the boys on some higher ground? Or just enough away that though not easy, they could be saved??