After the catastrophic floods in July this year, Travis County officials told reporters that its emergency communications could have been better in terms of getting information to residents, many of whom felt abandoned and left to recover with only the help of their neighbors.
Improvements to disaster communications were already in the works before the floods hit. In 2023 the county commissioned FUSE, a national nonprofit that partners with local governments to implement systems changes, to shore up the county’s disaster response and climate resilience plans.
FUSE’s main finding echoes what flood survivors have been saying. In the absence of a trustworthy authority, even when warnings reach people, they may be ignored. Indeed, a Texas Tribune article from this week details how rural and unincorporated communities, including residents near Big Sandy Creek in Travis County, depended on their own communities in the absence of any clear official authority on the ground.
“The issue isn’t just message delivery, it’s messenger credibility,” said FUSE’s Maria Yuen. “People consistently place a higher trust in information from people they know personally, and trust does directly influence whether people take action.”
There are also logistical issues with existing emergency communications, such as language barriers and limited digital access.
“There’s a troubling divide where some residents receive no information at all, while others are overwhelmed by alerts and multiple sources during emergencies,” said Yuen.
In addition, there is widespread government distrust among immigrant and marginalized communities, especially under the current administration.
To address the lack of trust and gaps in communication, FUSE presented an idea to the commissioners court in their meeting on September 30, suggesting a network of “connectors,” or community members that relay the county’s emergency communications using already-established community bonds.
“The ideal connector has strong existing networks and widespread trust, and has capacity to share information quickly,” Yuen explained. “Communications must be available in multiple languages, notably English and Spanish. And while digital tools are essential, they must be balanced with analog methods like phone calls and door-to-door.” A good connector would also relay community needs back to the county.
“We do warnings, we do notifications, but we saw in the July flooding the trusted network is really, really important,” said Eric Carter, chief emergency management coordinator for the county. “It was in line with a lot of what we were observing.”
As part of the pilot program, FUSE recruited members of organizations already working in the community – many of them involved in flood relief. FUSE then conducted two communication drills focused on the Manor and Emergency Service District 12 areas, with the goal of reaching at least 10,000 residents, to test text-focused messaging to a discrete area, to use multiple methods of message delivery and to recruit and train at least 10 community connectors from diverse communities and languages.
The results exceeded these initial goals, with 22 community connectors working in English and Spanish disseminating information through their existing networks through texts, calls, social media and in-person communication. They reached over 74,000 community members across multiple ZIP codes. All of the connectors shared the message within two hours, and it reached people without internet access, including senior citizens “who often miss digital-only approaches,” said Yuen.
A single connector’s social media post generated 569 views within 48 hours, evidence of a “multiplier effect,” Yuen said. “They don’t just reach individuals. They activate neighborhood networks through platforms that people already use.” Almost half — 46% — of the people who answered the survey post-pilot did not follow any Travis County social media or subscribe to Warn Central Texas, the county’s current alert system.
The effectiveness of the connector system relies on volunteers, but Yuen told commissioners that in order to implement the system within a year, two full-time county employees would be required to conduct regular drills and maintain engagement of the connectors, and recruit replacements if needed.
“People move in and out,” Yuen acknowledged. “People lose interest.”
However, 90% of the connectors who participated in the pilot said they were willing to continue in that role. That’s lucky, because Yuen said the eventual goal is to build out a network of 400 community connectors “representing all geographic and demographic groups, and becoming a recognized, reliable, established information source year-round.”
Commissioners were eager to implement the connector program: “The reality is we will have more and more of these kinds of freakish and unique weather disasters,” said Commissioner Brigid Shea. “We will need to do more to improve our communication and how we get urgent messages out to people.”
However, in a tight budget year, commissioners had concerns about the price tag of the program. “We’re trying to figure out how to fund existing programs and provide any kind of compensation increase for staff, so there’s not any extra money laying around,” said Shea.
Commissioner Jeff Travillion suggested utilizing existing resources instead: “If we are training, teaching, reaching out to kids in after-school programs, childcare situations, helping parents find those types of resources – that might be an opportunity to make sure that we make it easier for them to communicate with us and us to communicate with them.”
Additionally, as part of the state’s disaster declaration and some appropriations for flood relief made during the special legislative session, Travis County is eligible for some funding from the state. However, only $50 million is available to be split between 30 counties, and it is contingent on the Texas Water Development Board identifying flash flood-prone areas.
“I think there’s a lot, if we’re intentional about it, that we can do to implement what you’re talking about using some of our existing resources differently,” said Commissioner Ann Howard.
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