STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And now we're going to hear from a public radio reporter in Texas investigating the aftermath of a flood. He said Texas is not spending billions of dollars it needs for projects. Here's Paul Flahive.
PAUL FLAHIVE, BYLINE: Five million Texans live in areas threatened by floods, but a state plan published in December says addressing it will cost $54 billion. The Texas Water Development Board's State Flood Plan ranks the most urgent flood prevention needs. If completed, they would remove more than 840,000 people and 214,000 buildings from the 100-year-flood flood plain. So far, the state has invested a little more than 1% of the $54 billion they need in seawalls, structures and flood strategies that will keep Texans safe.
DEREK BOESE: That is a drop in the bucket in many ways.
FLAHIVE: That's Derek Boese, general manager of the San Antonio River Authority and a chair of a regional flood planning group which covers 2.2 million people across 16 counties.
BOESE: But it's more than we've seen in the past.
FLAHIVE: The study points to nearly a half-billion dollars needed to fix low water crossings and bridges in the steep-terrained and thin-soiled region of Central Texas called Flash Flood Alley. Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered lawmakers to return to Austin next week for a special session to address floods.
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GREG ABBOTT: We want to make sure that when we end that session, we end it making sure these communities are better, more resilient and have the resources that they need.
FLAHIVE: That's in part because few actions were taken last legislative session on the issue. Again, Derek Boese.
BOESE: There are a lot of different demands on funds and needs that come up. And so there's always jockeying for that, which I think is unfortunately why it sometimes takes a tragedy to shake things loose and put dollars where they're needed when it comes to flood control.
FLAHIVE: Floods along the Guadalupe River are forcing Texas to redouble its efforts on flood planning and mitigation. In fact, it was another storm that led the state to create the Flood Fund and State Flood Plan. Both passed the Legislature due to Hurricane Harvey, which swept across Texas' Gulf Coast, where 89 people died in 2017.
SUZANNE SCOTT: These storm events are happening more frequently, and they're causing more damage.
FLAHIVE: Suzanne Scott is Texas director of The Nature Conservancy.
SCOTT: I think that people are coming to the realization that we have to be more proactive about our planning.
FLAHIVE: A study for an early warning system that would include sirens for Kerr County - one locals said could've saved lives in the recent deadly floods - would cost about $50,000, according to the State Flood Plan. This project ranks 1,560th in terms of funding importance of the more than 3,000 identified flood evaluations. Scott says she hopes this recent tragedy puts more attention on early warning systems.
SCOTT: Hopefully, it will put it to the top of the list because those are projects that, in the scope of things, they're not that expensive, and the benefit is so great.
FLAHIVE: Especially since the study points out that the high costs of the projects can make them impossible for a local government to finance without outside funds.
For NPR News, I'm Paul Flahive in San Antonio.
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