Texas Rethinks Alert System After Deadly Flood

0:00It's April 22nd, from your city to your ears. This is Dallas News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. Last Fourth of July, a deadly flash flood hit the Guadalupe River in Central Texas, killing over 100 people, including many kids from camp. Mystic. Alice Clayborne was visiting her mom's house when her phone blared a wireless emergency alert around 1 in the morning. She brushed it off as another amber alert and went to bed, not knowing it was a life-threatening flood warning. Texas leased the nation in amber alerts, with a record 54 just this year, causing major alert fatigue. A federal study by Rand showed the state tops the opt out list in nearly 30 percent, and even those who stay tuned often ignore the noise in the middle of the night. Survivors like Clayborne, feel that confusion, cost lives. Her family barely escaped as waters rose, trapping them for days. Pete Reb Drew Darby heard countless stories of people rolling over and sleeping through the beeps right before disaster struck.

1:02Now lawmakers are pushing back, with Darby refiling a bill to study alert overload and fix the system. Ideas include distinct sounds for amber alerts versus weather threats, reserving ambers for the gravest cases and sending localized pings only to nearby areas. These changes could cut the tuning out and save lives next time the alerts hit. Texas is listening and the push is just getting started.