At least 38,600 homes sat within the path of destruction of the deadly July 4 floods that devastated Central Texas, according to a Realtor.com analysis using data from hazard mapping firm Cotality.
The zone, long known as “Flash Flood Alley,” covers counties along the Balcones Escarpment from San Antonio through Austin and toward Dallas. It’s a stretch of steep, thin-soiled limestone hills that can funnel storms into sudden torrents. In Kerr County, the Guadalupe River surged 26 feet in under an hour during the storm.
Travis, Tom Green, Williamson and Burnet counties were also hard hit, with over 8,000 homes impacted in Austin’s Travis County. Cotality’s analysis included any structure with as little as an inch of water reaching the first floor.
Many of the affected properties, including the devastated Camp Mystic in Kerr County, had previously been designated by FEMA as within the 100-year floodplain, indicating a 1 percent chance of severe flooding every year. Yet, federal regulators repeatedly allowed portions of such sites to be carved out of official flood maps over the years, leaving the camp with fewer insurance or mitigation requirements.
Flood insurance is rare in Texas.
“We’re really underinsured when it comes to flooding,” Rich Johnson of the Insurance Council of Texas told KXAS. The statewide flood insurance rate is just 7 percent; it drops to 1 or 2 percent in inland areas around San Antonio and the Hill Country.
The economic toll is massive. AccuWeather estimated between $18 and $22 billion in damage and losses, making it the country’s costliest and deadliest weather disaster of the year so far.
The death count has reached 134, and dozens more are still missing.
Gov. Greg Abbott has extended FEMA Individual Assistance eligibility to affected counties, including Burnet, Kerr, Tom Green, San Saba, Travis and Williamson.
— Judah Duke
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