Texas State University and student organizations, such as Texas State Rugby and Texas State Hockey, are assisting students, families and other groups and individuals impacted by the July 4 flooding.
On July 4, a severe storm system moved through Central Texas, causing severe flooding in several river valleys, most notably along the Guadalupe River. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Guadalupe River rose to 37.52 feet.
“Central Texas is referred to as ‘flash flood alley.’ It’s essentially one of the most dangerous flash flood locations in the entire world,” Kimberly Meitzen, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Texas State, said. “There’s a number of physical factors that lead to it being described as flash flood alley, both from a meteorological perspective and from a physiographic landscape perspective.”
Meitzen said very steep topography, shallow soil depths, narrow valleys, overgrazed areas and an increase in impervious coverage all contribute to large amounts of water runoff in the Hill Country during heavy rain events.
“I want to be really clear about this, rainfall totals of that amount would result in flooding like you know, almost regardless of what we’re doing on the landscape,” Meitzen said. “But some of those land use and land cover changes can intensify the impacts of the event, but that amount of rainfall under any scenario for this river valley is going to result in catastrophic flooding.”
According to Meitzen, this recent flood was not unprecedented. The Guadalupe River also experienced large floods in 1900, 1932, 1935, 1978 and 1987.
“So if we just look back over the last 100 years, there have been a handful of similar events where the river has risen over 25 feet,” Meitzen said. “The 1932 flood, on the first-person accounts of it that have been documented, basically say that the town of Hunt, which lies at the confluence of the North Fork and South Fork, was almost wiped off the map during that flood event.”
The July 4 weekend floods are one of the deadliest in state history, with over 100 confirmed deaths and more than 100 people still missing as of July 10. Meitzen partially attributed the higher death toll in this flood than in previous floods in the region to increased development in floodplains.
“We shouldn’t be developing in our floodplains. People shouldn’t be living in our floodplains. They shouldn’t be in places where people’s lives are at risk,” Meitzen said.
Meitzen said better management of floodplains, updating floodplain maps and realizing that floodplains can flood at any time, not just once in a 100 years for a 100-year flood plain or once every 200 for a 200-year floodplain, could mitigate how devastating future floods could be.
“None of these things will truly prevent a flood, because they will occur, just given the conditions,” Meitzen said. “But there are ways that we can reduce risk for society within these regions.”
Meitzen has been deeply moved by this event and its impacts on the Hill Country’s community.
“I share my condolences with the families, communities and everyone affected by these flood across the Hill Country, and I thank all the first responders, volunteers and everyone involved in the rescue, recovery and support efforts for these events,” Meitzen said. “I am completely heartbroken for the people, the landscape and the wildlife. I want to help our region heal from this disaster and I will work to change policies and practives to help prevent future loss of life.”
After the flooding, student organizations at Texas State went to help with recovery efforts. Kyle Campbell, president of Texas State Rugby, said his organization couldn’t sit idly by and not assist.
“I mean, the least we can do is just help people, you know, move trees out of the way,” Campbell said. “It’s not gonna bring lives back. It’s not gonna change anything. But hopefully we can make the future better.”
According to Campbell, he found Riverside Nature Center in Kerrville asking for help clearing their property on Facebook.
“I checked a bunch of different groups and found a place, a nature reserve, that needed help, as much help as they could get,” Campbell said. “We had about 10 guys in the area. We all went, even one of our coaches went as well to help out.”
Campbell also said that his group was able to raise over $1,000 to contribute to the Texas Hill Country Community Foundation. He also said he was coordinating with other student organizations to do more relief work.
On July 7, Texas State President Kelly Damphousse sent a campus-wide email sharing resources for students, staff and faculty who may have been impacted by the flooding. According to the email, the Division of Student Success emailed all students with home addresses to let them know of resources. A university spokesperson said that the email went out to about 4,000 students across the region.
Damphousse’s email also said the university would offer “flexibility and support” to incoming students registered for new student orientation, as well as reminding employees of available resources.
“At this time, we encourage you to work with existing relief organizations already mobilizing across the region. Looking ahead, we are considering TXST-organized fundraising efforts and events this fall to continue our commitment to recovery and rebuilding,” Damphousse wrote in his email. “I encourage friends who are interested in specifically helping affected Bobcats to join Beth and me in donating to the Student Emergency Grants Fund.”
In the email, Damphousse also said that the university was coordinating with state and federal officials to provide resources to aid with search, rescue, and cleanup efforts.
