COMAL COUNTY, Texas – Nine flood warning systems have been placed along the Guadalupe River for just over a year. The systems had their first trial run earlier this month.
Comal County partnered with artificial intelligence company RescAlert to upgrade its previous flood system, which had been in use since 2014. It did so without increasing taxes or receiving grant funding.
Jakob Carmichael, the founder of RescAlert, said it is able to predict floods before they happen.
“With the technology that we have today, we can actually predict these things before they make it their way to us,” Carmichael said, “by taking the historical data and the current integrations that we had, whether it’s weather stations, flood sensors, fire sensors, air quality monitors.”
The upgraded systems also came with new, advanced outdoor warning sirens.
“We also installed big outdoor warning voice projection systems that could do any language to actually,” Carmichael said, “not only let people know something was happening, but what was happening and how to respond to that disaster.”
Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Kelly has overseen the new system since it was introduced last year, but July 5 was the first time he got to see it in action.
“We were able to sound the ones that we had,” Kelley said, “along with calling for a mandatory evacuation.”
Using the data collected from the flood, Carmichael said that the company will actually be able to improve its systems.
“We’re able to take in this data, bring it into our system, take historical data, and run AI analytics and give predictive analysis of what’s to come so that we can even be more prepared before the disaster makes its way to us,” Carmichael said.
The system cost the county $1.92 million, but according to Kelley, there was no increase in taxes to fund the project. The county did not use any grants to pay the bill, either.
“The county felt it was important enough — and we had such a high threat danger level here with the river —that we go ahead and get this installed,” Kelley said.
Comal County also allows the public to access their system to see road closures in real time, as well as where these flood sirens are located.
“The goal is to let people know that water is coming their way,” Carmichael said.
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