Areas around the Guadalupe River have long been hazardous for flash flooding, owing to the rugged terrain and the river’s non-absorbent limestone bed, a local meteorologist based in Kerrville, Texas, told CNN.
“This is a historically flood-prone region … this is ‘flash flood alley,’ and in the National Weather Service has appropriately so named this region as a flood-prone area for many, many years,” said meteorologist Cary Burgess.
Speaking with CNN’s Brian Abel, Burgess noted how the massive flooding in Texas Hill Country has been especially devastating in Kerrville, with “more fatalities than we’ve ever had before in these flooding events.”
“I know I’ve lost three people I know personally. It’s been a really rough day,” he said.
Much of Kerr County is “very rugged and also rural,” making it easy for people to get trapped by waterways that flow into Hunt, Texas, which is where Camp Mystic roughly is located, Burgess said.
The Guadalupe River is “a very beautiful river and tranquil most of the time” except when heavy rain transforms it into “a beast,” Burgess said, noting the base of the river is limestone, rather than mud, “so it acts like concrete or a street.”
