Written by Iris Ornek
Introduction
On July 4th, 2025, a flood tore through Texas, causing hundreds of fatalities, earning its title as one of the top ten deadliest flash floods in U.S. History (Masters, Burt, & Henson, 2025). The flash flood happened with little warning, with water levels rising over 20 feet in under an hour (Sanchez & Rless, 2025). Many experts and media outlets attribute the high death toll to a lack of disaster preparedness in Kerr County, where many of the fatalities occurred.
For Kerr County, a lack of efficient and accurate forecasting made it particularly difficult to evacuate citizens promptly. In addition to a lack of resources, many citizens were asleep at the time of the flood, which further delayed the dissemination of information. On the contrary, a flood in New Mexico just a few days after the one in Texas, despite occurring under similar conditions, resulted in far fewer casualties. Reporters from AP News, Bryan, Lee, and Peipert explain that the 3 casualties of this flash flood could have been exponentially higher if it weren’t for the timely forecasting and warning systems in place (2025). The village was prepared for flooding due to the previous wildfires, which destroyed the trees that soaked up and properly drained excess rainwater. Furthermore, the village had two emergency systems in place. The first was an automatic alarm system, which did not go off, and the second was a specific evacuation plan that was carried out the day of the flood (Bryan, Lee, & Peipert, 2025). If it were not for the thorough planning of the area, including having many systems and procedures, it would have been much more difficult to aid community members.
Successful disaster preparedness requires accurate systems and practiced plans that encompass all aspects of disaster, from pre-disaster to post-disaster. The first, and most important, aspect of disaster preparedness is to have accurate and dependable weather services. Initial predictions of extreme weather events allow community officials to warn and fully prepare for the disaster before it is too late. Far before the threat of disaster, having a course of action or an evacuation plan is necessary. Quintana et al. (2025) explain the importance of having these plans at both the community and individual levels, as well as updating and frequently practicing them. All pre-disaster and post-disaster preparedness cannot work without efficient communication. Communication encompasses the spreading of information to the community throughout the disaster and coordination between emergency personnel. All of these aspects (prediction, evacuation plan, and communication) work together to assist both humans and their pets. While it may seem unreasonable to give equal priority to pets and humans, much of the research on disaster response finds that including pets in disaster plans positively affects the safety of the community. The last aspect of disaster preparedness falls under the post-disaster planning. Part of a community’s resilience to disasters is its ability to quickly recover from disasters. This is known as risk management. Risk management allows communities to plan and predict damage in the area. Essentially, the goal of risk management is to reduce the negative effects of disasters as much as possible.
In a perfect world, this type of system would exist everywhere; however, there are limitations to disaster plans like these. These include funding that is needed for weather prediction systems, as well as compensating people for their losses and paying emergency personnel. Government cooperation is a notable limitation because much of the funding comes from the government, but beyond that, the government provides many essential services, such as forecasting. The government is further limited by the community’s belief, or lack thereof, in the system. Assuming that a community can overcome those challenges, there are still systematic limitations, such as the development of applications and the maintenance and update of those applications.
Encouragingly, increased technology and the need for these emergency systems have allowed communities to find innovative solutions and bypasses to the mentioned limitations. There are now applications that work with existing information to create a centralized and effective system that can be used during a disaster.
Predicting Natural Disasters
Predicting natural disasters begins with having a reliable and accessible weather prediction system. This includes issuing watches, warnings, and disseminating important weather information to all affected communities. The importance of having a trusted weather warning system lies in the idea that communities will only act on a warning if they believe it to be true. The Barisal division of Bangladesh is very prone to flooding, and therefore serves as a good example of how regularly inaccurate weather data can downplay the severity of a disaster. When studying the narrative and opinions of Bangladeshi residents, researchers found that both a lack of accessibility and inaccurate information led to less timely evacuations and more casualties (Jagnoor et al., 2019). Inaccurate information about past weather events, particularly information that exaggerates the severity of the weather, becomes an increasing issue as disasters become more severe. The 2025 Texas floods’ high casualty rate (specifically in Kerr County) was largely due to the lack of warning systems in the area. Initial observations of the floods also attribute inaccurate information as a reason Kerr County saw little action taken during the disaster (Flavelle, 2025). The rapidity of flash flooding, along with the lack of staff to track and predict weather before it happens, can prove to be a dangerous combination. This is one flood that, when compared with other similar floods, showcases the stark difference in casualties between prepared and unprepared communities. While Texas provides insight into how a lack of accurate forecasting can worsen disasters, it also appears to be an anomaly. This is because their worsening forecasting system was largely due to the government diminishing the system instead of improving it (Flavelle, 2025).
Regardless, the Texas flood is just one example that shows the necessity of an accurate and reliable forecast system. In Barisal, 81% of respondents in a study by Jagnoor et al. (2025) did not evacuate, 44% of whom believed that they had no reason to evacuate. Furthermore, less than 5% of the respondents reported receiving any information about evacuations and safe locations (Jagnoor et al., 2019). This highlights how inaccurate information can increase risks to people, but moreover, it showcases the need for accessible information, especially for areas with lower socioeconomic status. Many areas of the US and around the world may have barriers to information. Particularly, areas with lower socioeconomic status may have less or delayed access to information due to a lack of technology, such as mobile phones or TVs, which is where a majority of severe weather warnings are broadcast. This puts these areas in further disparity, especially considering that oftentimes they have worse infrastructure and a lower threshold for disaster.
For these reasons, it is imperative that communities have a system in place that can give accurate, timely, and accessible information. Additionally, collecting data and taking time to predict and plan for potential disasters allows communities to decrease their recovery costs and other risks.
Forming Evacuation and Disaster Protocols
Forming an evacuation plan well in advance of the threat of a natural disaster diminishes the chance of unexpected situations. It allows people to evacuate with peace of mind because they know some of what is to come. Evacuation plans, as well as overall emergency plans, are not as simple as creating a plan and addressing it when needed. Plans must be updated to ever-changing conditions, communicated to everyone affected, and practiced frequently so that the evacuation becomes familiar. Researchers stress the importance of having an individual disaster plan as well as having wider-scale (government, community, business, etc) planning (Quintana et al., 2025). With varying situations from household to household, community plans can only aid people to a certain extent. For example, households with pets must take into consideration where they can take their pets in the event of evacuation, as well as what resources or information they must have handy.
One important outlet of disaster preparedness information is veterinary clinics (Quintana et al., 2025). Because many pets usually have regular veterinary visits, having handouts and information about disaster preparation can increase their accessibility. Of course, not every community has the resources to consistently take their pets to the vet, which shows how necessary it is to diversify sources of information. Nevertheless, even communities with a veterinary presence are not necessarily providing information to their clients. A survey-based study found that only around 13% of vets have resources about pet-inclusive disaster preparedness for their clients (Quintana et al., 2025). This shows just how little access to information people have, but it also highlights how simple increasing accessibility can be. There was a wide consensus for many different education techniques, including having protocol resources, disaster preparedness courses, and coaching vets to discuss preparedness with clients; most of all, there was a consensus for just having public access to resources such as brochures or an online platform.
In addition to gaining access to materials that help build a plan, both households and workplaces alike need to practice and update their evacuation plans. One issue with not regularly practicing these plans, particularly in workplaces, is that as employees rotate throughout the years, they may never become familiar with the evacuation plan until they experience a disaster. To corroborate this, a survey found that of the few clinics that had disaster plans, 18% of them never reviewed the protocol with their staff, “effectively nullifying the disaster preparedness effort” (Quintana et al., 2025). Researchers stress the need to practice and become familiar with evacuation plans, as it can help refine the plan itself, but more importantly, prepare people in case of an emergency. Additionally, updating the evacuation plans allows for a more tailored approach to the current norms and decreases the potential for holes or useless steps in a plan. For example, with climate change on the rise and increasing disasters, it is important that disaster plans account for the frequency of the disasters, as well as the types of disasters that most often happen.
Regarding tools that can help form a plan for individuals and workplaces, many point to a database of information, where people can access information about shelters, resources, disaster-specific information, and training for those who need it. This creates an interface that both prepares a community for disaster and aids the community when disaster strikes.
Risk Management- Inclusive Planning & Communication
Risk management works to reduce the aftereffects of a disaster by predicting and preventing some of the damage that can occur. This includes physical damage to properties as well as loss of life and injury. It also encompasses plans to decrease the amount of time and money spent on rescuing people/pets and restoring damages.
Several researchers acknowledge that a pet-inclusive emergency system can protect more human lives in addition to saving animals. With 66% of US households owning a pet, it is extremely important to take into consideration the effects of leaving animals out of disaster planning, especially on the owners themselves (Dolan et al., 2025). Involuntary separation between a family and their pets can put unnecessary stress and, in many cases, has led to families choosing not to evacuate or come back to an unsafe area to rescue their pets (Every et al., 2016). Even with a well-thought-out emergency evacuation plan, many owners may refuse help and accommodations if it doesn’t welcome their pets. To further pets’ role in evacuation protocols, a study done in the US found that 80% of animal owners would risk their lives to save their pet, and another study done in Australia found that 8% of flood-related fatalities occurred because people attempted to save a pet even if it wasn’t theirs (Thompson et al., 2014). This shows the vitality of including pets in disaster planning and risk management. While it may be difficult to completely rework an established system, increasing the number of pet-friendly shelters as well as providing resources for disaster preparedness allows for a more inclusive and effective system than before. Furthermore, emphasizing pet inclusivity also creates a better situation for people with disabilities who depend on a pet to aid them. Evacuating during a disaster can create stress and strong emotions, and for those who need their pets in order to carry out basic functions, these emotions can become amplified, and people could be put at more risk. Bettering risk management for a community can be done in several ways; however, pet inclusivity may be a unique way to lower casualties during disasters.
While many researchers see a lack of pet-centered planning as an issue in the system, Thompson et al. (2014) see it as an opportunity to improve resilience among a community. They express that instead of asking owners to leave their pets behind, they should instead increase their disaster resilience by individually planning for emergencies ahead of time (Thompson et al., 2014). This helps increase the number of people who prepare for such disasters by giving them an emotional incentive. Beyond emotional attachment, it may even be useful to agricultural companies that are looking for a way to protect their livestock during a disaster. Livestock evacuation, due to their large population, would most likely have a much different plan during a disaster, but, nevertheless, larger agricultural companies would still benefit from a pet-inclusive system that helps them obtain the resources they need. Overall, while it may seem irrelevant to a community’s quality of life, pet inclusivity plays a major role in risk management.
While it is important for a post-disaster plan to include all stakeholders (pets and people alike), it is still ineffective if limitations in communication are not addressed. Civil engineer Kovel (2000) found that while communication between entities was present, necessary information was not reaching the correct people. Kovel (2000) derives a three-database system that houses different types of information for easy access. Two databases would house important information about where facilities in need of repair are, and what resources for reconstruction are available. The last database is specific to disasters and emergencies, which contains information important to disaster response (Kovel, 2000). These databases work together to provide data that works with emergency managers to make predictions about potential disasters (Kovel, 2000). Having a database not only aids communication during and after a disaster occurs, but also furthers the benefits of risk management by improving disaster predictions. This is vital for communities that face disasters frequently, as the most important aspect of disasters is recovery. While Kovel (2000) raises questions and limitations about the technology used for these databases, technology has improved far beyond those limitations, which has led to start-ups, such as DARTCC, that use a similar approach to aid in disaster management.
A Note on Limitations
Although many limitations have been resolved over time, there are still limitations to take into consideration. One limitation is funding. Funding is required because no matter what approach a community decides to take, whether it be a government program, private contractor, or non-profit organization, funding is required to build and maintain a database and plan for disasters. Funding can come through investments from people or companies, through grants, or through government funding. Government funding in particular feeds into public perception, which in some areas can become a limitation. In order for the government to put more funding towards disaster predictions and relief systems– without taking from other sectors of funding– they have to increase taxes. Some communities may see the necessity and choose to pay the taxes, but in areas such as Kerr County in Texas, many may show more of an opposition. For reference, the county was planning on installing important warning infrastructure (Flavelle, 2025). However, like any new infrastructure, it can get expensive, and an unwillingness from community members to pay for it led to the infrastructure never being put in place (Flavelle, 2025). Without warning systems or other disaster planning infrastructure, disaster preparedness becomes very difficult. It is important to educate and advocate to communities about the importance of disaster preparedness to decrease the risks associated with natural disasters.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is clear evidence to support the claim that disaster preparedness can save lives. This is especially apparent when comparing the recent flash floods in Texas and New Mexico. Although the disasters happened under similar circumstances, the difference in disaster preparation and attention to detail made a significant difference in casualties and destruction. The comparison between the two floods highlights not only the importance of a detailed plan but also the importance of educating communities and restoring trust in warning systems. It is important that every community has an individualized plan that is specific to the common types of disasters in the area, the demographics, and other variables of the community. Furthermore, individual households must fine-tune their disaster plans to fit their personal situations better. Also, a unique perspective on preparedness comes through the inclusivity of pets during planning because of their role in incentivizing households to better plan for disasters, as well as carrying out the plan in an emergency. In order to accomplish all of these aspects of disaster preparedness, it is important to have an organized, efficient, and accessible system to store important information and provide learning opportunities for disaster personnel.
In terms of limitations, mitigating some of the limitations starts by choosing a good company, such as a non-profit organization, to decrease costs while still having a reliable system. One example of a non-profit organization that focuses on providing a low-cost system to communities is Disaster Animal Response Team Command Central (DARTCC), which aims to eventually grow into a non-profit that provides a database filled with vital information about disaster preparedness, as well as location-specific information about shelters, pets, households, etc. While systems like the one DARTCC has created are not the only ones necessary to be fully prepared for disaster, its goal is to take care of a key aspect of disaster preparedness that may otherwise go unfulfilled. Ultimately, disaster preparedness is a long and detailed process, but if done correctly, it can save many lives and help a community stay strong and healthy even after a disaster.
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