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The River Authority is working with Bexar County to replace outdated systems with modern technology, including a real-time interactive mapping tool for residents to utilize.
Officials from the River Authority, accompanied by county officials, presented the new technology on Tuesday.
They shared a proclamation for Flood Awareness Day and unveiled “Floods Don’t Care," a public safety campaign. It's designed to help residents better understand flood risks and make safer decisions during severe weather.
The campaign is timely as the forecast for the San Antonio area, include days of rain for the next several days.
County leaders also highlighted the new Next Gen Flood Warning System on Tuesday. It includes automated gate arms, flashing warning lights, and improved flood monitoring technology.
Bexar County Manager David Smith said the upgraded system makes flood warnings more accurate and effective.
“What this will do is couple the state-of-the-art modeling of our water sheds county wide that the River Authority has already done and turn it into a predictive model.”
The original High-Water Alert Lifesaving Technology (HALT) system lowered gates only when physical water sensors detected that water had already risen to a dangerous level on the road. The NextGen system uses an advanced predictive flood-modeling software that syncs with radar, rain gauges, and upstream sensors. It triggers the automatic closure of gates before the water hits the road based on forecasted flooding.
Real-time gate-closure data automatically syncs with Google Maps and Waze. The apps dynamically reroute drivers away from lowered arms.
Drivers can look at the interactive map at BexarFlood.org to select specific low-water crossings along their commute and subscribe to automated text or email alerts that ping them the exact moment a gate lowers.
Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores said it’s important that flood safety information can reach all residents in the community.
“Equitable outreach matters. Not every resident accesses information the same way. So multilingual and multi-platform communication is essential,” said Clay-Flores.
The system is already installed at several flood gauges throughout Bexar County, with a countywide rollout now underway after officials committed $21 million to the project last year.
Jim Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board at the San Antonio River Authority, said "Floods don't care if you drive a Tesla or an F-150. They don't care if you live in the Dominion or across the street. They don't care about geographic boundaries. And that's why it's so important that we work with our partners in the city and Bexar County, and counties upstream like Kendall, Medina, Comal, and Bandera."
