It’s one of many troubling questions being asked about the Hill Country flooding disaster: why didn’t local officials send out a warning using their alert system called Code Red?
News 4 I-Team reporter Jaie Avila gives us an inside look at a similar system used here, and who can give approval to activate it.
Bexar Metro 9-1-1 oversees the emergency notification system used throughout Bexar, Comal and Guadalupe counties. But the name of the alerts may be different depending on what city or county you live in, and you may need to sign up to get the alerts.
As the Guadalupe River rose to life threatening levels early on the morning of July 4th, a volunteer firefighter urgently requested that a warning be sent out to people’s cell phones.
“Is there any way we can send a Code Red out to our Hunt residents to find higher ground or stay home?” the volunteer firefighter could be heard asking a dispatcher.
“10-4, standby we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” the dispatcher responded.
Kerr County officials so far have refused to answer why that alert apparently never went out until hours later, after dozens of people had been swept away.
Code Red is the name of a notification platform Kerr County purchased from a private vendor and similar systems are used by cities and counties around the nation.
Here they use one called REAN which stands for Regional Emergency Alert Network.
“Staff are trained to send alerts for flooding, missing persons, wildfires, chemical explosions,” said Cory Brandenburg with Bexar Metro 9-1-1.
In Comal and Guadalupe counties they call the program REAN, but in San Antonio it’s known as Alert SA.
That’s important because unlike National Weather Service alerts, you have to sign up by going to the city or county’s emergency management webpage.
“It will either ring your cell phone like a normal phone call or send a text or email message,” Brandenburg said.
Instead of blasting out a warning to a huge area like a National Weather Service or Amber Alert, the REAN system can be used to target a specific neighborhood.
Only people inside certain boundaries will receive the alert.
The City of San Antonio says the lieutenant on duty in the dispatch center has authority to issue alerts if the situation is urgent.
Bexar County says its fire marshal or emergency management staff are available 24/7 to approve alerts.
The emergency notification system costs about $150 thousand a year and is paid for with the 9-1-1 service fee on your phone bill, according to Bexar Metro 9-1-1.