Search for Texas flooding victims resumes after heavy rain brought brief pause

CBC

2 days ago

Latest downpour caused waterways to surge again, damaging dozens of homes
More heavy rains in Texas on Sunday temporarily paused a weeklong search for victims of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River and led to high-water rescues elsewhere as officials warned that the downpours could again cause waterways to surge.
It was the first time a new round of severe weather had paused the search since the July Fourth floods, which killed at least 129 people. Authorities believe more than 160 people may still be missing in Kerr County alone, as well as 10 more in neighbouring areas.
In Kerrville, where local officials have come under scrutiny over the failure to adequately warn residents about the rising water in the early morning hours of July 4, authorities went door to door to some homes after midnight early Sunday to alert people that flooding was again possible. Authorities also pushed phone alerts to those in the area.
During the pause in searches, Ingram Fire Department officials ordered crews to immediately evacuate the Guadalupe River corridor in Kerr County, warning that the potential for a flash flood is high.
Late Sunday afternoon, the Kerr County Sheriff's Office announced that search teams in the western part of that county could resume their efforts. The Ingram Fire Department would resume its search-and-rescue efforts on Monday morning, agency spokesperson Brian Lochte said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on social media platform X that the state was making rescues in San Saba, Lampasas and Schleicher counties and that evacuations were taking place in a handful of others. Texas Task Force 1, a joint state and federal urban search-and-rescue team, had rescued dozens of people in the Lampasas area, Abbott said.
The latest round of flooding damaged about 100 homes and knocked down untold lengths of cattle fencing, said Ashley Johnson, CEO of the Hill Country Community Action Association, a San Saba-based non-profit.
"Anything you can imagine in a rural community was damaged," she said. "Our blessing is it was daylight and we knew it was coming."
With more rain on the way, county officials ordered everyone living in flood-prone areas near the San Saba River to evacuate. Johnson said people were being moved to the San Saba Civic Center, which has become a safe, high place for people to receive aid and shelter.
"Everyone is in some way personally affected by this," she said. "Everyone is just doing what they can to help their neighbours."
The weather system brought multiple rounds of heavy rains and slow-moving storms across a widespread area, pushing rivers and streams over their banks. Heading into the afternoon and evening, the heaviest rains were expected along the I-35 corridor and east, said meteorologist Patricia Sanchez of the National Weather Service's Fort Worth office.
"A few spots might see up to two to four [inches per hour], pretty much through the evening, before the rain, the coverage of rain and the intensity of the rain, slowly decreases," she said.
Forecasters warned that the Guadalupe River could rise to nearly 4.6 metres by Sunday afternoon, about 1.5 metres above flood stage and enough to put the Highway 39 bridge under water in Hunt, the small Texas town where Camp Mystic — a century-old all-girls Christian summer camp — is located.
"Numerous secondary roads and bridges are flooded and very dangerous," a weather service warning said.
The rains were also causing other waterways to swell further north in Texas, where emergency crews rescued one motorist who was left stranded in waist-high rapids on a submerged bridge over the Bosque River. The man leaned onto the vehicle for support as crews tried to reach him with life-jackets.
"He drove into it and didn't realize how deep it was," said Jeff Douglas, president of the McGregor Volunteer Fire Department. "Luckily he was able to stand next to the vehicle."
In the west Texas city of Sonora, authorities called for evacuations of some neighbourhoods due to rising floodwaters. In a video posted Sunday afternoon on Facebook, Mayor Juanita Gomez said some water rescues had taken place and that a temporary shelter for residents had been opened in the city's civic centre.
Sonora is located about 177 kilometres northwest of Kerrville.
'We're getting a lot of support'
Under heavy rain, Matthew Stone was clearing branches and a log from a storm sewer in front of his home on Guadalupe Street in Kerrville on Sunday as several inches of water pooled up on the road.
Multiple houses on the street overlooking the Guadalupe River were severely impacted by the July 4 floods, and Stone had to pull his older neighbours from their home before water overtook it. He said he felt safe for now.
When floodwaters came, one small Texas town sounded its alarm
"My wife was freaking out, that's for sure, but as long as that river is not coming down, we'll be all right," he said. "The cops have been coming back and forth, we're getting lots of alerts, we're getting a lot of support."
Just before daybreak on the Fourth of July, the destructive, fast-moving waters rose eight metres on the Guadalupe River, washing away homes and vehicles. Ever since, searchers have used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads.
The floods laid waste to the Hill Country region of Texas. The riverbanks and hills of Kerr County are filled with vacation cabins, youth camps and campgrounds, including Camp Mystic.
Located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River in a region known as "flash flood alley," Camp Mystic lost at least 27 campers and counsellors.
The flood was far more severe than the 100-year event envisioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, experts said, and moved so quickly in the middle of the night that it caught many off guard in a county that lacked a warning system.
The sheer amount of rain was overwhelming. Ryan Maue, a former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a private meteorologist, calculated on July 5 that the storm had dropped 120 billion gallons of water on Kerr County, which received the brunt of the storm.