Long, but very well-researched piece on the 4th of July flood in Texas that took many lives.
The Texas flood was due to a chronic failure
to mitigate the eco-impact of past sheep herding
https://rense.com/general98/Texas-flood.phpBy Yoichi Shimatsu
Exclusive to Rense
7-14-25
The mainstream news channels have a knack for spreading confusion and fear while evading the root causes of unanticipated disasters and “inexplicable” tragedies - as is happening in the wake of the Fourth of July killer flood through the Kerrville region of west Texas (which is south of Fredericksburg along the road toward Austin and north of San Antonio). Slightly after midnight on the 4th, a surging wall of water deepened and widen the channel of the usually tame Guadalupe River, plowing under homes, campsites and vehicles along its path. Most heart-rending of all casualties were young girls swept away from the bunkhouses of their summer camp. The over-dramatized mass media subsequently treated this terrifying act of nature as something like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or, worse, as a whimsical act of a merciless God.
For all the political correctness of media lightweights mindlessly spouting catch phrases like “global warming”, “carbon emissions” and “green energy”, the mainstream liberal press has consistently failed to consider - much less detect and analyze - the causal factors affecting regional weather systems now acting with extraordinary intensity across the USA. The specific cause of the unexpected sudden flood, however, has to do with the vast changes in the natural environment above and along the headwaters of several regional rivers including Guadalupe (of this disaster), the Nueces (an underlying element in the Uvalde school massacre) and the ultimate cowboys and Indians waterway the San Saba – which was evacuated this week with the onset of the second mega-flood out of the massive Edwards Plateau. The environmental and human threat/safety importance of the Edwards massif is discussed further along this essay.
The horrified public reaction over the Guadalupe River flood killing more than a hundred local residents and girl campers in the post-midnight darkness has cast a shadow of obscurity over the root cause of this mega-disaster. The lack of credible explanation about the sudden flood has been followed by the anti-Texan liberal assertion that riverside zoning regulations had been ignored - despite the fact that dozens of properties on river-banks deemed to be safely out of reach along embankments were also swept away in droves with lethal consequence for their inhabitants. It was a monster flood of historic proportions - which has detectable causes in the transformation of the western states from self-sustained rural communities to a current condition of a dying wasteland exploited for housing tracts, vacation homes and new centers of technology divorced from serious long-standing issues related to the natural environment in a changing economy over the past century, most seriously over the past 50 years.
The day of independent ranchers, migratory herders, independent craftsmen and roving bands of Indians may seem to be long ago over and out - along with those memories of the frontier and the notion of range land shared by local communities. But it’s been the “taming of nature” - with ever-increasing bureaucratic rules and legal codes making an independent rural lifestyle practically impossible – and that disappearance of local stewardship has removed all human barriers to forest fires, drought, water scarcity, pollution, periodic floods and neglect of natural resources across the western states – not just Texas. In the fading light of a once wild west, the wild rage of the Guadalupe River is nature’s call to return us back toward values of hard work, craft practices, moral behavior, common sense and love of the land as practiced by our frontier ancestors. Failure to learn from the mega-disaster will be yet another factor in the collapse of rural America, broken apart at the seams and sold to the highest corporate bidder and Frankenstein data center from Florida to Pennsylvania to Kentucky and on to California. Let us not interpret the tragic deaths of the Kerrville flood victims as an excuse to turn our backs on rural America but instead accept this tragedy with a noble spirit and renewed commitment to this vast precious land - yours and mine - for Americans will always be pioneers rooted in the land in search of wider vistas blessed by God’s grace.
Neither have the news reporters and media pundits considered the possibility that so-called “modernization” across the American West over past decades might have destabilized the tricky balance between solid ground and stormy conditions. Indeed, sudden downpours routinely sweep through “arroyos” (storm-carved channels) across the dry zones of the western states Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas, resulting in permanent depopulation of vast areas of nature’s flood zones.
Stuck by the Storm System
Had not I protected my own abode in New Mexico similarly threatened with flooding (by the same storm system although of lesser power than the Kerrville flood) – and minimally deflected with piles of bricks, new rain curtains and my relentless sweeping away rainwater off the back patio with a broom while being personally soaked like a frog - well, I would now be residing inside an emergency shelter for the homeless. That physical effort, prior preparation for heavy rainfall and sheer determination, while successful at saving the property, kept me from my journalistic impulse to immediately drive to Kerrville to conduct interviews of local residents and make first-hand assessments of causal factors - as I had done previously on-site at the Uvalde school shooting (which was largely motivated by planning for an electric power plant by Nueces River to supply the Los Angeles basin with TV access).
Well, the harsh fact in Kerrville that so many residents and summertime sojourners were overpowered and therefore unable to swim to shore resulting in death by drowning made my early-on hope of covering the flood situation a pre-ordained exercise in futility. That disappointment of being powerless to come to the aid of those frightened people swept along the churning water came to pass – and there would have been nothing I could have done about it and whatever the case my presence would have been an unhelpful nuisance to the overwhelmed local rescue teams.
Perhaps for comparative rainfall analysis the recent experience of intense rain in southern New Mexico is similar to the precipitation pattern over Kerrville hundreds of miles away and more importantly on the other side of the Edwards Plateau (along the eastern edge). It’s not surprising that in both cases that the rainfall was heaviest about midnight due to the cooling of air temperatures, allowing for condensation of cloud-borne rain droplets. What is more intriguing is that in other cases - hundreds of miles apart and at different elevations - that the rainfall was in both cases narrowly channeled due to a narrow cloud configuration (as opposed to a wide weather front). The storm was shaped like a spear and not a shield. In both cases, nearby communities were hardly drenched, suffering only minimal spatter. The odd narrow bandwidth of rain could suggest some artificial manipulation of the storm front, or perhaps that’s paranoia. Odd indeed.
The outcome - which rendered lifesaving attempts futile - proved the validity of the ancient Chinese assertion that water is the most powerful of elements, an observation based on thousands of powerful river floods over the millennia in the Asian lowlands, especially the Yangtze basin. For all our bravado posturing and muscle flexing, this flood proved once again that man is a pathetically weak creature in both the natural order and within the larger plan of creation. Of course, humanity has known that fact since the biblical account of Noah’s ark.
Centers for sheep-raising and recent disasters
I’ve had many pleasant recollections of long drives past ranches, vineyards and live oak trees through that river-divided terrain on several previous visits in the direction of Austin and the pleasant German-heritage town of Fredericksburg - the latter located along an upper branch of the Guadalupe River. The history and geography of that west-central region is also now applicable to the Kerrville flood disaster.
One of the curious geological factors linking the Uvalde affair and the Kerrville flood is that the south-flowing Nueces River and the eastward running stream of the Guadalupe share the same place of origin - which is the Edwards Plateau, the source of rainfall – and drinking water - for southwest Texas. The killer flood, thus, arose from that rather barren highland, which in every direction spouts dozens of streams that merge into nine separate rivers flowing in different directions – the life-blood of Texan grazing, farming and human habitation. What’s interesting is how the relatively short and small Guadalupe channel swelled into the most destructive flood of recent times in that vast state. The phenomena that explains the “overload” of a relatively short and small river Guadalupe was the rather odd weather pattern of concentration of rainfall in a relative narrow band of clouds - exactly the same feature as my rain troubles in Southern New Mexico (whereas nearby fringes – just a block away - of the passing flood remained fairly dry.)
Slightly to the north of Kerr-and-Frederick is the Llano River - also originating in the Edwards Plateau. “Liano” is the Spanish term for “sheep” - the key clue to comprehending the causal relationships centered at that plateau which accounts for the destructive mega-flood of July Fourth. The long absence of herds of sheep grazing on the cloud-gathering Edwards Plateau - explains the ferocity of the July 4th catastrophe. As we mourn, we are also compelled to think about - to consider - how human behavior can bring on unintended consequences, and sometimes horrifying tragedy as we’ve witnessed over the past week(s).
Baa, Baa Sheep
Sheep are meek creatures content to graze and sleep outdoors and that cannot even harm a fly, which is why their coats of fur are so thick. The density of wool has traditionally been the reason for woolen clothing and in the promised land of the Mayflower Puritans – that is until the invention of petrol-based fibers including nylon, polyester, acrylic and spandex, which gained dominance over the fashion industry and consumer demand in the late-1960s - as predicted by that infamous quote “plastic” whispered to Dustin Hoffman’s ear in “The Graduate”.
In the bulls-eye of the chemical textile industry was the Edwards Plateau, the greatest single area of sheep rearing in the southern half of the USA, the source of knitting wool to textile mills mainly in the American South and along the Atlantic coast, whereas hardier sheep ranches in the north, immediately below the Canadian border. produced rougher fiber for the mills on the northern half of the Eastern Seaboard. The trade in wool (as yarn or raw material for weaving into cloth) especially for export to Britain and beyond was the root economic/financial cause of the Civil War. Such a peaceful critter triggered the bloodiest conflict in the American history and came close to putting an end to the Union, bah-bah! Well, during freezing winters in an era without automatic heating systems, a thick coat was essential for human survival through the deepest months of the cold season. Most of the wool was shipped by rail from the prosperous town of Uvalde along the Nueces River, where domestic (household) raising of tiny mohair sheep resulted in the thinnest yet still strong fiber used to weave the finest thin cloth for tuxedos and fancy gowns for the East Coast elites, North and South. The lamb’s fleece from Texas was second only to silk from the Far East - and fetched a price nearly as high.
Of course, young males soon grew to be quite large and so other than breeding stock, the masculine lambs were castrated and soon butchered for lamb chops for Easter supper. The sheer volume of wool either combed off or sheared in the springtime meant that Easter holiday was a festive occasion for oven-roasted young male lamb with a sweet condiment of mint jelly to quell any gamey stench, as I still fondly recall enjoying after the mandatory egg rolling contest outside my family’s Christian church. Soon thereafter, during my college years in traditionalist Indiana, lamb chops fell off the menu along with our woolen shirts, pants and jackets - replaced by “wash-and-wear” synthetic petroleum-based fiber textiles and, of course, cotton with the popularity of blue jeans. Instead of chops for Sunday dinner, we had to settle for meatloaf. Easter was never the same since that fashion statement went out of style. (I should add here that many consumers, myself included, developed an allergy to rougher woolens aside from fine - and unaffordable - angora textiles, a widespread health issue that only spurred the sales of polymer fabrics.) As we see today, the change of textiles has come back to haunt us with the shocking scale of deaths on this past Fourth of July.
An exhausted plateau
Thus the dominance of petroleum-based plastic fibers proved to be devastating for the environmental balance on the Edwards watershed, indeed much of west-central Texas, as aging sheepherders ended grazing on their pastures and disappeared, presumably to retirement in nearby cities. Nearly a half-century later, I have often driven across that desolate little-traveled highland, gone to sparse weeds and wind-blown dust. Absent of manure from the herds resulted in the mountain soil to be rapidly depleted of organic matter, which was lost to rainfall and gradually over time transforming into a highland desert, somewhat similar to northern Nevada (another former sheep-rearing region) The rockier barren spots have come to resemble Utah. The die-off of trees, shrubs and ground cover over decades has rendered the Edwards Plateau vulnerable to flash floods along relatively new “arroyo” - the Spanish-Mexican term for dry sandy flood channels - and in that transformation from pasture to wasteland you have the root cause of the increasingly destructive and deadly floods in counties east and south of the Plateau. Mess with Nature in Texas and the cult of plastic convenience comes back on you with a vengeance.
Admittedly, I cannot offer an immediate solution, when warding off floods over my veranda demanded every ounce of strength against the wind-driven rain that swamped the backyard. And the arrival of more clouds has kept me on storm watch instead of chasing down interviews in the Kerrville-Guadalupe disaster zone. Given the power of arroyo floods in New Mexico, I was aware of the strong probability that only a few survivors in Texas escaped the floodwaters. Helplessness is a sickening fact especially for a journalist who has survived all sorts of warfare-related risks, scuffles with gangsters and natural disasters over the decades. Oh, well, Kerrville was the one that got away.
Rebuilding a self-sustaining environment
Therefore, all I can conclude is that somehow the Edwards Plateau needs to be replanted with trees, shrubs and hardy grasses - moderated and enhanced by wild deer or possibly wild mountain sheep as in the pre-settler days - in sufficient numbers as to restrain the onrush of spill-off rainwater. Also helpful toward restraining floods, landscaping projects can divert storm water into ponds or lakes (some of which can be used for recreational fishing or even small boat recreation). To do what’s necessary, we must not focus solely on the harsh consequences downstream – the endgame - but instead come up with forefront solutions at the source and do the hard work to prevent rapid runoff from the Plateau onto the downhill communities. Certainly the inhabitants in a state with the sunshine of Texas deserve beautiful and shade-banked waterways to enjoy during the long hot summers. But to function as an alternative back-to-nature weather system, the terrain of hills and valleys need to be studied, planned and designed on a scale as famously large as a Texan vista. So the bright side of a very bad situation is that to terra-scape with human efforts in imitation of what takes Nature millions of years to sculpt can be accomplished in a relatively short span of time with careful planning and steady effort.
The Edwards Plateau is potentially a Garden of Eden and not solely as catchment of clouds for changeable rivers meandering through vast tracts of fallow land. Development is not solely about building new housing tracts but also involves human efforts to improve the ecosystem for our species and theirs - the wildlife, horses and pets in need of contact with Nature. And it would be a heritage project to have one, two or a few sheep stations on that landmark terrain of the mohair and wool industry. Range wars are long behind us, and probably never as widespread as suggested in cowboy movies. As I grew up in the Mohave Desert, all of us wild boys dreamed of growing up to be a gun-slinging cowboy hero rather than an environmentally conscious pastoralist. Were we wrong about that! The over-arching lesson from the horrifying disaster of July 4 - a day to learn about and practice the human capability to do what’s necessary and good for all of God’s creatures - so that children might thrive in a safe natural environment instead of being swept away into the darkness. May God bless their souls and calm their distraught families.
-- First we will destroy your identity. Then we will teach you your pastwas evil. You will conclude yourself that your inheritance, yourhomeland, your ancestors and your people are underserving of it all.Then we will complete your dispossession and dissolve you into the finalphase of the Kalergi Plan.
https://www.globalgulag.us
The Texas flood was due to a chronic failure,to mitigate the eco-impact of past sheep herding