Last weekend, flash floods in Texas washed away homes, RVs, and campsites. Over 120 people are dead—many of them children—and more than 170 are still missing.

This disaster was tragic. It was also likely preventable.

My family lost everything we owned in a hurricane and flood over 50 years ago. The population impacted in our area was more than six times as large as the flooded counties in Texas, yet the deaths from Hurricane Agnes in our area in Pennsylvania were just a small fraction of the people killed this past week.

Both locations were known flood zones, having experienced severe flood events in the past. Both places received National Weather System alerts at least 12 hours in advance of the expected flooding. Both suffered catastrophic property losses in their respective events. But in spite of the fact that there were no cell phones or social media in 1972, the population in PA was evacuated safely, which was not the case in Texas.

The exact timeline of what happened in Kerr County will come out over time, but right now it looks like a combination of several factors led to this disaster:

• Local officials decided against spending the funds for a county-wide alert system, saying this was a waste of money.
• The desire to “get back to nature” overrode common sense. Phones were taken away from both campers and counselors—in spite of the knowledge that this area was known as “flash flood alley.” As a result, many people didn’t get the overnight alerts to leave until it was too late.
• Plans to evacuate areas in case of flooding were inadequate or nonexistent. No one thought to develop realistic scenarios of how to handle rapidly rising flood waters in a rural setting with limited access.

Was this week’s tragedy unique to Texas? Absolutely not. In fact, it bears many similarities to what happened to the massive wildfires in Los Angeles early this year. Fire department budgets had been cut and homeowners neither trimmed sufficient brush near their homes nor invested in pool pumps to provide an additional source of water to fight fires.

In 1972, people listened to government warnings of danger (delivered on their old fashioned home telephones). They didn’t invoke the “Deep State” or ask whether this was all a scam perpetrated by those with an opposing political view. They followed the direction of those who were there to protect them—the way our parents and grandparents lined up for polio and smallpox vaccines, rather than deciding to opt out, as too many people do today.

This kind of “It can’t happen here” mentality seems to be showing up more and more. I’ve decided to call this Ostrich Syndrome: If we put our heads down and hide, we won’t have to pay attention to what’s going on around us and everything will be fine.

Except ostriches survive by outrunning what’s chasing them. Humans can’t outrun wildfires or flash floods or dozens of other hazards.

Maybe it’s time we start thinking differently before disaster strikes?

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linda@popky.com
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www.leverage2market.com