TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — Heavy rains are headed for Central Texas later this week, with parts of the region under a Level 3 out of 4 risk for flash flooding.
The community in Sandy Creek has been hit hard by flash flooding before.
Archie Basey, who has lived in the area for over half a century, said the July 2025 floods were unlike any flooding he’d ever seen.
“We had a 35-foot wall of water come down the creek,” he said. “I’ve been here for 53 years, and that was the worst one.”
Parents and children impacted by the catastrophic floods on July Fourth are demanding action from Texas lawmakers. At the top of their list of demands is a better flood warning system. (Photo: Bettie Cross)
Resident Ashlee Willis said damage from the 4th of July floods has caused water to move through the area more dangerously.
“The creek has never behaved in this way,” said Willis. “But since the flood and all the foliage and trees being ripped out, it’s just straight runoff. So now it’s on average an inch of rain is a foot of rise.”
Willis has joined other neighbors in forming the Sandy Creek Alliance to advocate for their voices to be heard in the flood recovery process.
Under new requirements passed into law under Texas Senate Bill 3, Travis County has plans to install flood warning sirens by August 2027.
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However, residents are raising concerns about the siren system the county is planning to install.
“There are decisions being made by the [Travis County] Commissioners Court and the county to bring in sirens, and from what we understand from the coverage capacity of the sirens, they don’t meet the adequacy that we would need to feel safe in our community,” said resident Joseph Shopp, who is also part of the Sandy Creek Alliance.
Willis and Shopp both worry that the siren system under consideration by Travis County will not be loud enough to wake residents from their homes during a flood emergency.
“They’re not designed to wake people up where they are…These systems are not tested outside of normal neighborhood noise,” said Willis about the sirens Travis County is currently considering.
“Having an inadequate system that we don’t feel is going to produce the effects that we need it to produce leaves every resident hanging on to that mental health aspect,” said Shopp. “The fear, the torment, the uncertainty: is this system going to do what it needs to do so that our family is awake and to safety in enough amount of time?”
Sandy Creek Bridge, pictured here in July 2025, was displaced about six inches by floodwaters in the July 4th floods (Photo: KABB)
In contrast, Willis said River Sentry sirens are louder than legally required and have proven reliable in other areas of the state.
“It’s 90 decibels, which is 10 decibels higher than is required by the Texas Water Development Board and suggested by FEMA for sirens to be,” said Willis about River Sentry sirens.
“River Sentry’s SB3 compliant. It’s approved by the state of Texas, installed in Kerr County after the floods using private money, and saved lives in 2026,” she said. “Like documented, so, like, got people out.”
Shopp said River Sentry sirens would also be more cost-effective, but his primary concern is the safety and peace of mind of his neighbors.
“This would save, for one, the taxpayer thousands of dollars, but that’s not really the concern,” said Shopp. “We’re not super concerned about the tax dollars. We are concerned about the lives and the livelihoods of those people along the river.”
CBS Austin has reached out to Travis County to confirm which sirens it is considering as part of its final flood warning siren plan, which is due to the Texas Water Development Board by Dec. 31.
“We have a saying in disaster recovery, ‘nothing about us without us,'” said Willis. “The information and the data and our lived experience are an invaluable part of the recovery process, and we absolutely deserve to have our voices heard. And we’re grateful the county is opening its arms to us for public commentary, and we hope it opens a much larger conversation.”
Members of the Sandy Creek Alliance will speak at the Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday morning.