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Guadalupe County details July 4–5 flood response; officials urge residents to register for assistance
Summary
Emergency management reported roughly 70+ road closures, dozens of homes damaged and about $1.5 million in reported public infrastructure damages after the July 4–5 rain event; county activated its EOC, used notification systems and urged residents to register with ISTAT/TDEM for FEMA assistance.
Guadalupe County officials gave the Commissioners Court a preliminary account of the July 4–5 storm response on July 15, saying the event caused widespread road closures and property damage concentrated in and near the city of Seguin.
Patrick Pender, the county's emergency management coordinator and fire marshal, said the office activated the emergency operations center early on July 5 and sent Everbridge notifications; sheltering resources were opened but saw little usage and were closed the same day. Rainfall gauges in parts of the county recorded in excess of 8 inches in short periods, and Pender told the court the county initially reported about 75 roads closed across jurisdictions.
Initial damage assessments submitted into the state's ISTAT/PSTAT damage‑reporting system showed evolving counts: by July 8 there were five homes reported major/destroyed and 13 with minor damage; subsequent entries rose to 11 major destroyed, 49 minor damaged and 10 affected, plus five businesses reporting damage. Pender said public‑infrastructure impacts reported so far totaled about $1.5 million, with the City of Seguin most affected. He added numbers were still changing as FEMA and TDEM reviewers require photo documentation for individual claims.
Pender described notification work using the county's Ring/phone tree and the National Weather Service and said some siren replacements and new river gauges are planned as part of mitigation. He urged residents to register in the ISTAT/TDEM system and noted FEMA will only coordinate with people who register. The county will also work on installing additional stream gauges and camera feeds to provide real‑time data into the EOC.
"We're still monitoring disaster declarations," Pender said. "FEMA's coming. They'll probably be coordinating through Seguin because most of the damage that's been reported is in the city limits."
