CALLS FOR BETTER FLOOD NOTIFICATION IN CENTRAL TEXAS

  

Some state-wide emergency preparedness experts have called for better public emergency notifications in the wake of deadly storms and flooding last year in Texas.

Officials in Hays County and San Marcos have released a list of recommendations following disastrous weather during Memorial Day weekend and last October.

Some of their suggestions have already been implemented.

Flooding last fall in Texas claimed seven lives, with victims in the Austin, San Antonio and Houston areas. Flooding in Central Texas over Memorial Day weekend left more than two dozen people dead.

The report calls for improved coordination for public information dissemination and better responses to mass fatalities.

It goes on to say emergency personnel also need to identify safe locations for sheltering evacuees.

Since last year’s storms, the Lower Colorado River Authority spent $300,000 to install five high-tech gauges on flood-prone rivers and streams in Bastrop and Travis counties.