Flash flooding has been in the headlines for nearly two weeks, following the catastrophic Guadalupe River flood in Texas earlier this month.
The Texas tragedy, while thousands of miles and decades apart, is a stark reminder of the 1969 Hurricane Camille floods—with the overnight arrival of flood waters, high death tolls, and failures of emergency alert systems. More recently, the Charlottesville area suffered the loss of 12-year-old Jordan Sims of Crozet, who was killed by flash floods on May 13.
Alerts, along with their conveyance, have been in the spotlight following the Guadalupe River flood. More than 130 people are dead, with at least 100 others still missing in Texas, raising concern about existing alert systems. However, the communication issues encountered in Kerr County are not unique, says Majid Shafiee-Jood, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Virginia.
“While the National Weather Service issued multiple flash flood warnings early that morning, it is unclear whether those alerts reached residents in more remote areas, including at Camp Mystic,” says Shafiee-Jood. “Limited or nonexistent cell service may have prevented Wireless Emergency Alerts from being delivered, a critical issue in what is otherwise considered a fairly robust national alert infrastructure. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated issue.”
As part of his work at the University of Virginia Environmental Institute, Shafiee-Jood is researching hazardous weather informed decision-making, and the efficacy of alerts. The quick-onset nature of flash floods in particular creates unique challenges in the effective communication of emergency warnings. But even when alerts are issued, they’re not always received.
“Even when the science and decision-making are sound, warnings can fail to reach people on the ground, particularly in rural or mountainous areas. This is one area where I believe our emergency communication systems, not just in Texas or in Virginia, but everywhere in the country, share a common challenge,” he says.
Communication is more easily interrupted in rural areas, creating an environment where rapid onset weather events can block information before alerts are issued. This occurred during the Hurricane Camille floods, when connections to rural Nelson County were cut off by torrential flooding and mudslides.
More than 50 years later, communities in North Carolina encountered the same communication breakdown during Hurricane Helene in 2024. “I was closely tracking news from North Carolina, where an evacuation order sent through IPAWS in Buncombe County did not arrive on some residents’ phones until hours later, by which point a landslide had already occurred,” said Shafiee-Jood. “County officials later confirmed that flooding had disabled nearby cell towers, disrupting message delivery.”