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HuntSafe

Community Alert & Preparedness Program

Building a Safer, More Resilient Kerr County

What is HuntSafe?

HuntSafe is aimed at providing information to residents, businesses, and visitors in Hunt and Kerr County on key technologies to increase weather preparedness and awareness in our community. HuntSafe supports the Hunt Preservation Society’s mission to preserve and protect the natural beauty, rich heritage, and historical legacy of the Hunt community and helps give Hunt residents, businesses, tourists, and camp families confidence that we are building back smarter and safer.

Six HuntSafe Complementary Technologies

Accuweather SkyGuard®

Severe weather service and professional meteorology monitoring

Monitoring for flash floods, wildfires, high winds, lightning, extreme heat, tornadoes.

Capabilities:

  • Powered by AccuWeather SkyGuard®
  • Site-specific severe weather warnings
  • Direct consultation with AccuWeather meteorologists
  • Multi-channel notifications - text messages, automated phone calls

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River Sentry

Local flood detection devices to monitor river conditions

Localized flood detection devices and warning towers installed along the Guadalupe River for audible alarms during dangerous river conditions.

Capabilities:

  • Provides dangerous flooding detection and alarm capabilities with localized sensor/alarm systems and a mobile app
  • Early detection of rapidly rising water
  • Audible and visual alarms

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UGRA Flood Warning System

Integrated and predictive flood warning system

Integrated real-time data with predictive modeling to provide information on flooding and alerts in Kerr County and coordinate with other flood monitoring, alarm, and emergency systems being implemented.

Capabilities:

  • Real time rainfall and water level data
  • Public data dashboard
  • Alerts to emergency management
  • Predictive analysis

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National Weather Service

Weather forecasts and alerts over public airways

National weather alerts provide the official government weather observations, forecasts, and hazard alerts for Kerr County, and provides a foundational, always-available baseline.

Capabilities:

  • Alerts sent via notifications
  • Audible alarms possible with NOAA alarm device

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GMRS Radio Network

Emergency 2-way radio communications network

Local, 2-way, off-grid communication during severe weather emergencies.

Capabilities:

  • Leverage licensed FCC band for public use - more reliable, does not use cellular or internet
  • Support first responders and residents to communicate when help is needed

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Meshtastic

Messaging system to send text messages and location data

Off-grid low-power radio technology for tracking people, equipment, and assets.

Capabilities:

  • Texting system that uses LORA technology to send text messages when networks are down
  • The more radios, the bigger the mesh gets, the wider the community coverage
  • Multiple nodes already installed on high points throughout Kerr County

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A Community Commitment, Not a Guarantee

HuntSafe is intended as a community education campaign on the tools and systems available to help improve weather preparedness and help individuals and businesses make more informed severe weather decisions. Hunt Preservation Society’s role is to promote that these technologies are available and encourage residents and visitors to train on how to use them. Ultimately, each individual, business, and camp is responsible for their own preparedness and safety.

Accuweather SkyGuard®

Severe weather service and professional meteorology monitoring

AccuWeather provides sophisticated weather intelligence. Hunt residents and visitors can download the consumer AccuWeather app free of charge to make safer weather-impacted decisions.

AccuWeather SkyGuard® is a subscription-based severe weather warning service staffed by AccuWeather’s team of Certified Storm Warning Meteorologists. HPS is funding this professional-grade suite of services for the Hunt volunteer fire department. Unlike public weather alerts — which cover broad geographies and carry high false-alarm rates — SkyGuard® issues warnings specific to Hunt’s exact locations and assets.

Having access to trusted forecasts and site-specific weather warnings, including floods, wildfires, and lightning, strengthens Hunt’s preparedness and reinforces our resilience.

Key capabilities for HuntSafe:

  • Site-specific warnings for Hunt locations, issued by human meteorologists and 24/7 live meteorologist phone consultation for first responders before and during active events.
  • False alarm rate is significantly lower than government warnings.
  • Alerts delivered across multiple channels (text messages, automated phone calls) and via the SkyGuard® mobile app with push notifications, MinuteCast, radar, and lightning strike mapping.
  • Weather warnings for a wide variety of threats including high winds, flash flooding, wildfires, lightning, extreme heat, and tornadoes.

River Sentry

Local flood detection devices to monitor river conditions

River Sentry is a localized, real-time reactive rising water warning system. Similar to a fire detector, River Sentry detects rising water and activates an audio and light warning system, including siren/voice commands, strobe lights, and flood lights.

River Sentry towers are autonomous, sensor-equipped flood warning units deployed directly on the banks of the Guadalupe River. A network of 100 towers is currently being installed in the area — spaced approximately every 2.5 miles — with towers at summer camps, private properties acting as repeater locations, and key community sites. These towers will also emit wireless signals to alert downstream towers of impending danger.

River Sentry utilizes storm-resilient technologies that do not rely on cellular, internet, or grid power as a primary warning solution, and is focused on effectively alerting nearby people through fire alarm-like sirens.

Learn more about the installation progress to date.

Key capabilities for HuntSafe:

  • Direct water level sensing with automatic activation when water rises one foot per minute (5-minute warning threshold).
  • Audible siren engineered to produce at least 75 dB inside nearby sleeping structures — benchmarked to commercial fire code.
  • Strobe lights for visual alerting in addition to audio.
  • Automated voice command: “Flood danger. Flood danger. Run to higher ground.”
  • Designed to operate without cell towers or grid power.
  • Towers communicate with each other, enabling upstream detection to alert downstream sites before water arrives.

UGRA Flood Warning System

Integrated and predictive flood warning system

The Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA) is leading a county-wide modernization of its flood warning capabilities that blends new physical infrastructure (sirens, sensors, gauges), advanced predictive models, and a fast, resilient communications backbone.

In partnership with Kerr County and several regional agencies, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority is building a multi-phase, modernized flood warning system designed to provide faster, more accurate, and more actionable alerts along the Guadalupe River watershed, aiming to:

  • Provide earlier, more precise flood alerts
  • Improve situational awareness for emergency responders
  • Protect lives and property along the Guadalupe River
  • Reduce the need for personnel to manually monitor low-water crossings
  • Deliver location-specific warnings through automated, redundant communication channels

Key components being developed include:

  • Outdoor Flood Warning Siren Network: Early installation is planned in high priority areas, including the North & South Forks of the Guadalupe and the City of Ingram.
  • Advanced Sensor & Monitoring Network: An enhanced regional system will integrate rain gauges, streamflow sensors, weather and mesonet stations, and TxDOT bridge sensors.
  • Predictive Flood Modeling Platform: Developing predictive capabilities that integrate multiple data sources, including National Weather Service forecasts, USGS streamflow data, terrain and hydraulic modeling, and local rainfall and watershed data. UGRA will coordinate with other weather and emergency alert services being rolled to evaluate integration with the UGRA system.
  • A major grant of $14.7M (Feb 2026) will build a regional “electronic highway” to deliver sensor data in as little as 5 minutes (previously a ~30 minute interval).

Key capabilities for HuntSafe:

  • Predictive flood modeling — the system is designed to forecast flood events, not just react to them.
  • KISTERS/WISKI software platform aggregates data from rain gauges, stream gauges, and water sensors in 5-minute increments.
  • Data shared with USGS and NWS feeds into official public warning systems.
  • Expanded private LTE network via LCRA extending coverage for secure sensor data transmission across Kerr County.
  • Kerr County outdoor siren network integrated with UGRA sensor data for automated or operator-triggered activation.

National Weather Service

Weather forecasts and alerts over public airways

The National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio office is the official government weather observations, forecasts, and hazard alerts for Kerr County. HuntSafe leverages NWS resources as a foundational, always-available baseline.

Relevant NWS resources for HuntSafe:

  • USGS stream gauge and high intensity rain gauge HNTT2 — the official Guadalupe River at Hunt gauge, feeding NWS flood stage data.
  • NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) on 162.550 MHz — continuous 24/7 broadcast of watches, warnings, and all-hazard alerts for Kerr County (SAME code 048265).
  • Flash Flood Watches, Warnings, and Emergencies — official threshold-based alerts for Kerr County.
  • Flood Inundation Mapping — NWS now provides inundation maps for 60% of the U.S. population, including the Guadalupe River from Hunt to Ingram. This tool is valuable for emergency management scenario planning.
  • NWS API — free programmatic access to watches, warnings, and forecasts for integration into other tools.

GMRS Radio Network

Emergency 2-way radio communications network

General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a licensed radio service operating on 462–467 MHz designed for reliable, short-to-medium distance two-way communication. This system would let licensed users talk and communicate providing reliable voice communications when cell networks are unavailable or overwhelmed.

GMRS offers higher power (up to 50W for mobile, 5W for handhelds), allowing for better communication range and clearer signals. Radios include handheld walkie-talkies and mobile/base station units. A $35 FCC license covers the applicant and their immediate family for 10 years, requiring no exam. It supports handhelds and mobile units, featuring repeaters for extended range.

Key capabilities for HuntSafe:

  • Fallback communication when internet, cell, and landline infrastructure are compromised.
  • Primary voice coordination channel for residents, first responders, camp directors, and community volunteers during active events.
  • GMRS repeater extends range across Hunt’s terrain, allowing communication from the river to higher ground locations.
  • Many GMRS handhelds include built-in NWR receive capability — a single device can both receive official weather alerts and participate in community coordination.

Meshtastic

Messaging system to send text messages and location data

Meshtastic is an open-source, long-range mesh communication platform using LoRa (Long Range) radio technology. Mesh nodes communicate with each other without cell or internet infrastructure, and each node extends the network’s range. A Meshtastic network is ideal for Hunt’s terrain: river valleys, hills, and dead zones that degrade cell and Wi-Fi signals are well served by LoRa’s long-range, low-power characteristics.

Key capabilities for HuntSafe:

  • Text-format alert distribution across Hunt when cell networks are down or overwhelmed.
  • Communications from NWS/SAME alerts can be sent to all mesh devices.
  • Enables two-way communication: residents can send status messages (‘all safe’ or ‘need help’) back to operators.
  • Works during power outages: battery-powered nodes maintain the mesh independently.
  • Nodes can be deployed at key high points (hilltops, camp facilities) to ensure valley coverage.