Lavaca County emergency management lowers river alarms, reviews siren coverage after Hill Country floods

At the July 2025 Lavaca County Commissioners Court meeting, Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Merley reported that the county has lowered river-alarm thresholds by five feet and is reviewing local alert infrastructure after heavy flooding in Texas Hill Country.

Merley told the court he had reduced the Lavaca River gauge alarm settings “five feet from where they already were” to give officials “hours, possibly days” to prepare rather than minutes. He described three recording stations on the Lavaca River (a northern gauge at the Whittingham/Kaminsky bridge, a gauge at Breslau and a gauge at the Hallettsville bridge) and said the county is monitoring those sites more closely.

The briefing explained why the county adjusted detection and notification practices: the Hill Country flooding has been severe and unpredictable, and county officials want more lead time. Merley said county staff are also reviewing siren coverage and the CodeRED opt-in notification system. He told the court that Hallettsville currently has a single siren that is inoperable because of electrical and tower-structure issues; Yoakum installed a new siren about eight years ago and is performing maintenance; Shiner has three operational sirens. Moulton currently has no siren, and Merley said the town will explore replacement options using mitigation funding.

Merley also described personnel deployments and readiness. He said Lavaca County’s emergency services chief, Michael Furr, and an ambulance crew have been deployed to central Texas in support of flood response and recovery. Merley said he could be deployed to assist recovery operations if requested and that the county is planning for extended recovery operations that could last months.

On communications, Merley clarified how warnings are delivered: National Weather Service warnings are broadcast directly and will reach phones with emergency alerts enabled, while CodeRED is an opt-in system that will forward NWS warnings to county subscribers. He encouraged residents to keep emergency alerts enabled on their phones.

Merley outlined planned updates to county emergency planning: the county’s Emergency Operations Plan (basic plan) is scheduled for renewal in 2026 and the county will transition its annexes to a reduced, standardized Emergency Support Functions format in 2027 (moving from 22 annexes to 15). He also recommended pre-arranged debris-removal contracting and exploring a local relief foundation to handle monetary donations and reduce the risk of fraud.

Commissioners and Sheriff Steven Greenwell thanked Merley and county responders for the work supporting the Hill Country operations; the court discussed the possibility of locally staging additional resources and noted the emotional toll on deployed personnel.

The court did not adopt new ordinances during the briefing; Merley’s report was received for planning and preparedness. The commissioners asked him to continue work on siren repairs, CodeRED subscriber outreach and pre-contracting for debris removal and recovery support.