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DPS highlights Kerrville flood response, identifies communications and analyst deployment gaps
Summary
In the director’s update, DPS officials praised the multi‑agency response to catastrophic flooding in Kerr County and outlined plans to deploy communications trailers, analyst teams, and other resources earlier in future disasters after identifying interoperability and analyst‑deployment delays.
In a director’s update Aug. 7, Colonel Steven Martin credited Department of Public Safety personnel — troopers, rangers, tactical marine units and aircraft crews — for rescue and recovery operations during catastrophic flooding in Kerr County on July 4. Martin said the response saved lives but exposed gaps in early deployment of analyst teams and communications interoperability.
Martin said the department will perform an after‑action review and create deployable packages that can be sent to disaster sites on the front end. "We never know without deploying that team. It it could be something as simple as a tower is down, and we can bring a portable tower and get it up," Martin said. He suggested DPS will stage communications trailers, caches of portable radios and pre‑standing analyst teams to avoid the delays the agency experienced during the Kerr County response.
Martin told commissioners that approximately 139 DPS employees remained on the ground in Kerr County at the time of the meeting. He said the identification of missing persons initially ballooned to about 800 entries and that duplicative and false reports required a ranger‑led team of analysts to clean and verify lists. He also said two people remained missing in Kerr County at the time of the briefing and that a firefighter remained missing in Burnet County.
Commissioners praised the agency’s equipment investments funded by recent legislative appropriations — hoist‑capable helicopters, watercraft and additional commissioned positions — and urged continuation of the work to improve communications and long‑term identification capacity. Martin said parts of the problem reflect training gaps around radio interoperability when personnel move between counties and radio systems.
Ending: Martin said DPS will present after‑action recommendations and funding requests to the legislature, and that the department plans to maintain and expand deployable communications, analyst, and laboratory capabilities to respond to future large‑scale disasters.
