Flood Zones and the Guadalupe River in Kendall County

Two catastrophic floods, one year apart, and the second was worse

The July 2025 Central Texas floods brought some of the deadliest flash flooding in recent US history to the Guadalupe River corridor, with evacuation orders reaching into Kendall County communities along the river. Almost exactly a year later, in July 2026, the region flooded again -- and by the numbers, this second event was more severe, not a lesser repeat. The Guadalupe River gauge at Comfort crested at 37.08 feet in 2026, surpassing the 2025 crest of 35.64 feet at the same location. At Center Point, the river gauge rose 32 feet in just four hours during the 2026 event; nearby at Comfort, the river rose roughly 16 feet in 30 minutes and 22 feet within 50 minutes at points during the flooding. Local officials in Kendall County described the 2026 flooding as more widespread and destructive than 2025's, even though it proved less deadly. For a land buyer, the practical takeaway isn't which single year was worse -- it's that this stretch of the Guadalupe has now produced two of its most severe recorded flood events within twelve months of each other, which changes flood risk here from a low-probability historical event to a recurring, active one.

Why a two-year recurrence changes how you should read a FEMA flood map

A FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map's Special Flood Hazard Area boundary is built from historical and modeled data, and severe, closely-spaced events like Kendall County's 2025 and 2026 floods are exactly the kind of real-world evidence that can eventually push a remapping effort, insurance-rate changes, or revised floodplain-ordinance requirements -- none of which happens instantly after an event. That means a current flood map for a parcel near the Guadalupe or a tributary like Cibolo Creek may understate today's actual risk relative to what these two recent events demonstrated on the ground, particularly for property just outside a mapped Special Flood Hazard Area boundary. Before treating a parcel's current "not in a mapped floodplain" status as the end of the analysis, pull the actual river-gauge history for the nearest USGS or county gauge (Comfort and Center Point both have public gauge data) and ask directly whether the 2025 or 2026 event reached the property, rather than relying solely on the official map's boundary line.

The permitting process: Kendall County Engineer as Floodplain Administrator

Development within Kendall County's regulated floodplain requires a Floodplain Development Permit, administered by the Kendall County Engineer's Office acting as Floodplain Administrator under the county's Flood Damage Prevention Order. The office can be reached at 201 East San Antonio Avenue, Suite 101, Boerne ((830) 249-9343), and the county provides access to FEMA's Estimated Base Flood Elevation Viewer and Flood Insurance Rate Map Viewer for property owners researching a specific parcel's risk. Any new construction, substantial improvement, or fill activity within a mapped floodplain generally needs this permit before work begins -- and given the 2025 and 2026 events, it's worth asking the Floodplain Administrator directly not just about a parcel's current mapped zone, but about how that specific area actually performed during both recent floods.

Before you buy: what to actually check

1. Pull the current FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map for the specific parcel through Kendall County's viewer tools, and note both the mapped zone and the parcel's elevation relative to the nearest river or creek gauge.
2. Ask the Kendall County Engineer/Floodplain Administrator directly whether the specific parcel or road access to it was affected by the July 2025 or July 2026 flooding -- official flood-extent data from those events is more current and specific than an older FEMA map revision.
3. If the parcel is anywhere near the Guadalupe River, Cibolo Creek, or another tributary, budget for flood insurance regardless of current mapped-zone status, and confirm whether current flood-insurance rates already reflect the 2025-2026 loss history for the area.
4. For any structure you plan to build, confirm current Base Flood Elevation requirements and the county's substantial-improvement/substantial-damage rules before finalizing a building plan, since a structure built to satisfy an older flood-elevation standard may not reflect what these two recent events actually demonstrated for the site.