POUDRE CANYON, Colo. (KDVR) – There have been many questions about whether alerts may or may not have been received by the victims in the deadly Texas floods over the Fourth of July weekend.

FOX31 asked both the National Weather Service and the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management about their recommendations for how to stay informed of fast-changing weather conditions in areas frequented by campers.

A spokesman for NWS Boulder said weather radios can stay silent until an emergency tone is signaled by warnings issued for things like flash floods.

“The quickness of the alerting and the fact that they can wake you up,” NWS Boulder Warning Coordination Meteorologist and spokesman Greg Heavener said.

The radios are also said to work in areas where there is no cell phone service.

One of those places is Poudre Canyon in Larimer County. It’s where flash floods in 2021 left at least 3 people dead.

The FOX31 crew lost cell phone service for several miles as soon as the vehicle turned off a main road near the Poudre River.

Flash floods devastated the canyon after heavy rains went rushing down the mountain quickly over burn scars.

The Larimer County Office of Emergency Management asks people who plan to camp along the river to have a weather radio.

“It gives you the alert and the actions you should take. So, for example, for the flood plain that we are talking about, it would tell you to seek high ground immediately to try and get yourself safe,” Larimer County OEM Director Lori Hodges said.

Hodges said she understands campers want to disconnect and stay away from cellphones, which is why the weather radios are highly recommended.

One camper FOX31 spoke to did not have a weather radio

“Anytime you camp near the river, you gotta keep an eye on it for sure. And you know, with Colorado and the weather system this time of year, there are storms that come up each afternoon, so it's certainly on my mind,” Camper Bobby Young said.

The Larimer County Office of Emergency Management said it also sends out emergency messages through its multi-county NOCO Alert system.

But you have to have some kind of connectivity to get those messages, too.

The weather radios can run on various kinds of power sources. Some models have cranks that allow them to generate their own running power.