Tag Archives: Guadalupe River

environmental news, local news

Praise for twin-edged gesture

A company that does business in the North Texas community where I live has instituted an initiative I want to praise with this brief blog entry.

Community Waste Disposal picks up trash and recyclable material in Princeton and several Metroplex-area communities. This weekend I saw a public service announcement from CWD that kinda made my job drop. It encourages residents served by CWD to recycle material. Why? Because for every ton of material that CWD processes through its recycling program, it pledges to donate $10 for relief to aid the victims of the Fourth of July flooding in Central Texas.

Ponder that for a moment. The company is encouraging its customers to be more proactive in preserving the environment while at the same time pledging more money to repair the destruction that Mother Nature brought when the Guadalupe River wiped out families, businesses, homes and property.

The death count is something north of 100 people who perished in the river’s torrent. Many thousands more lives will need to be rebuilt, many of them without the presence of loved ones who perished in nature’s savage assault.

I have no idea how much CWD recycles each month. I am guessing it’s in the thousands of tons of material it picks up in front of Princeton houses — and elsewhere. Someone at CWD once told me that recycling efforts throughout the region has reduced landfill waste by something more than 30%. So, the region buys into the notion of recycling. It has become a way of life for many of us in North Texas.

I can think of no better reason to step up our efforts to send material to the recycling station than to raise money to aid our fellow Texans in distress.

Well played, Community Waste Disposal.

environmental news

Our grief is intense, personal

Texans are still grieving the loss of life and the destruction brought to the Texas Hill Country on July 4; our collective sadness might be difficult to explain.

I think I’ll try.

The Guadalupe River roared to an unfathomable level the other day. The death count from the torrent stands far north of 100. About the same number of folks are still missing. The media have been covering this story with “team coverage” one sees only during terrorist attacks, school shootings or jetliner crashes.

I was visiting with friends this morning at a church meeting in North Texas and the topic of our grief came up. I mentioned to them that I believe we are feeling it so deeply because we know someone who (a) has escaped the carnage, (b) is among the missing or (c) is one of the victims.

I’ll toss out a fourth category, which would include those we know live in the devastated region, but we’ve been. unable to locate them. They might not yet be on any missing persons list.

I am friends with a couple that moved to Comfort, Texas, a few years ago. Comfort is at Ground Zero of the flood devastation. I once worked with the wife of that duo in Beaumont. My wife and I became friends with her and her husband and their now-grown daughter.

I don’t know where they are. I managed to send a note via snail mail to an address I had for them. As of this moment, I haven’t heard from them. For all I know, they might not have mail delivery in the area affected by the ravaging water.

I am just one person out of millions of Texans who are waiting to hear if their friends are OK. I’m praying every night for my friends’ safety. Still, the waiting is torturous.

Media organizations are advertising aid programs where people can send money to pay for food, medical supplies and clothing for the victims. They are raising a lot of money.

I’ve seen the pictures from the Guadalupe River bed and the destruction left behind by the roaring deluge. Many others have seen them, too … and we all are mourning together.

environmental news, local news

Heroism abounds in Hill Country

Hill Country heroism is alive, well and flourishing as the nation grieves the horrifying loss of life and the destruction in the wake of the Guadalupe River flooding that began on the Fourth of July.

I cannot keep up with the fatality count these days. It’s past 100. It figures to climb. Many more are missing. Time is running out on those looking for survivors.

Through it all, we keep hearing about the men and women who drop all they are doing to pursue their lives to lend aid, comfort and assistance to the first responders who, themselves, are behaving with heroism beyond the call of duty.

Fire departments and medical organizations from all across the nation are deploying personnel to lend aid to the recovery effort. That’s what Americans do. We rally. We reach out. We offer love, prayers — and pickup trucks — to help our fellow Americans bring closure to the drama they are enduring. And by closure, I mean happiness as well as sadness.

I feel helpless sitting in my comfortable North Texas home. I am left to offer my best wishes to those who have survived the carnage. Prayers to those who are grieving the loss of those they love.

I also can salute the heroes who are answering the cries for help from Central Texas. They fill me with pride and hope that they might be able to minimize the suffering as we seek to recover from our collective grief.

environmental news

Looking for answers to this tragedy

Public officials charged with finding solutions to prevent future tragedy appear to be zeroing in on what might have led to the carnage we are witnessing in the Texas Hill Country in the wake of the horrifying floods that tore through the region.

It was the lack of any sort of electronic warning system that would have told residents to get the hell out of the Guadalupe River’s way as it roared its way downstream.

I heard a news report that absolutely galls me to no end. It stated that Kerr County Commissioners Court had debated the installation of storm sirens for years only to fail to act after earlier floods.

Would adequate warning sirens have prevented all the deaths that have occurred since the Fourth of July deluge? Probably not. However, for God Almighty’s sake, if they could have prevented some loss of life then that would be a huge victory for some Hill Country victims.

I don’t yet know how many victims’ remains have been recovered from the carnage. I know there will be more. Many of them will be children who were attending Camp Mystic, the Christian girls camp along the river. Our hearts continue to break as they find what’s left of these beautiful children. And the adults who died along with them.

I don’t want us to wait until we’re no longer hurting before we find some answers to the issue at hand: What can we do to prevent this from happening again? I believe storm sirens would be a productive start?

environmental news

What if we had voted ‘blue’?

Grateful as I am for Donald Trump/s pledge to rush aid to struggling Texas families damaged by the raging floodwaters of the Guadalupe River, I feel compelled to ask what I believe is a fair question.

What would his response be if Texas had voted against him in three presidential elections?

Trump has this sickening habit of politicizing everything, of attaching partisan preferences to issues that demand that he act as president of the entire United States of America. Disaster relief of the scale that has befallen Central Texas is one of those issues.

We have seen his reaction to California wildfires when he lectured state officials on what he said was inadequate forest management policies. Or his silence on the assassination not long ago of a Minnesota state senator and her husband by a known MAGA supporter.

I dislike bringing all this up, but I know it’s on the minds of many Americans who are worried and grieving the loss of all those Texans from the carnage brought to the Hill Country by the Guadalupe River.

Texas has stood firmly in Trump’s corner through three presidential elections, in 2016, 2020 and 2024. I guess our state’s fealty to Trumpism has earned the quick federal response. It sure isn’t supposed to be that way.