Kerr County officials reportedly failed to activate a powerful public alert system that could have saved lives before last week’s devastating flood.The Washington Post revealed that despite having the technology to turn every mobile phone in the river valley into a loud alarm,

Kerr County officials have for years talked about the need for a more robust flash-flood warning system, including sirens that would reach people in places with no cell service. But in the absence of that expensive infrastructure, they adopted IPAWS — which cost them nothing — as a way to alert more people by phone.