Native America Calling: What the Texas flash floods teach us about emergency preparedness

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Native America Calling: What the Texas flash floods teach us about emergency preparedness

Monday, July 14, 2025

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What the Texas flash floods teach us about emergency preparedness

For nearly a decade, state and local officials discussed how to avoid fatalities, injuries, and property damage in the Guadalupe River valley in Texas.

However, they failed to secure funds for a public warning siren. Subsequently, a devastating flood killed more than 120 people and at least 160 are missing.

Flooding along the Guadalupe River near Kerrville Texas, in July 2025. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Heartland

Earlier this year, after numerous warnings by inspectors, a levee in Oregon gave way, damaging more than 950 homes, including those of the Burns Paiute Tribe. And on the Navajo Nation, notification was key to helping hundreds of residents evacuate as the Oak Ridge fire consumed more than 11,000 acres.

Tune into Native America Calling to hear about those and emergency plans by some other tribes aimed at keeping threats from becoming human tragedies.

Guests on Native America Calling

Donovan Quintero (Diné), freelance reporter with the Navajo Times

Nelson Andrews Jr. (Mashpee Wampanoag), councilman for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts and tribal liaison for the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Bodie Shaw (Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs), former deputy regional director for the Northwest Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and former national wildland fire director for the BIA

Suzanne Settle, emergency services and resiliency director for the Burns Paiute Tribe, headquartered in Oregon