Comal County seeks up to $1.25 million in state funds to expand flood-warning system

Comal County staff asked the Commissioners Court to authorize pursuit of Texas Water Development Board funds made available under Senate Bill 3 to expand the county's flood-warning infrastructure. Staff said the Legislature provided $30 million for 30 affected counties and that Comal is among the eligible counties; the county may request between $1,000,000 and $1,250,000 under the program.

Staff outlined a multi-phase proposal: add AC power and fiber to existing high-water-warning systems, install high-wattage lighting at crossings for nighttime events, place cameras at dams and at crossings (including Rebecca Creek Road, Spring Branch Road and Nichols Landing), deploy watershed weather stations and flow nodes to correlate rainfall and river flows, and automate additional low-water crossings (16 automated currently, with more planned). "And so the whole idea behind this is to, increase warning time by having these weather stations and these nodes," staff said, arguing that combining real-time rainfall and flow data could extend warning lead times from the present 30–45 minutes to multiple hours.

Commissioner Cronover moved to approve the application authorization and Commissioner Leacock seconded. Commissioners praised staff work; no vote tallies by name were recorded and the court approved the motion. Staff said the county has budgeted additional funds in 2026 and that combining local budgeted amounts with the TWDB grant could advance all four proposed phases in the first year.