At least 2 dead in Texas floods as hundreds rescued in same region as Camp Mystic disaster
By Hanna Park, Dalia Faheid, CNN
(CNN) — Life-threatening flash flooding has hit southern Texas after days of torrential rain, leaving at least two people dead and hundreds of people rescued across the same region struck by last July’s catastrophic floods.
More than 230 rescues have been made so far, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday afternoon, adding more than 85 boats, 20 aircraft and 200 high-profile vehicles have been deployed to assist the response. “Human life remains the focus right now,” he said.
About a year’s worth of rain has already fallen in southern Texas and while water levels have receded in some areas, officials urge residents to remain vigilant while heavy showers continue in areas already inundated by torrential rain.
A flood watch for hard-hit parts of south-central Texas is in effect until noon Friday, covering the US 90 corridor west of San Antonio, the Hill Country, the Rio Grande Valley and the southern Edwards Plateau. Another round of storms could bring an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain, with isolated spots getting up to 8, though forecast models suggest the heaviest rain may fall northwest of the areas hit hardest so far.
Uvalde and Johnson City are the cities most at risk for the next 24 hours, according to the governor. In an update late Thursday, the National Weather Service said storm activity was starting to increase across parts of Texas, including some areas that have already received more than two feet of rainfall in recent days, warning that “it will not take much additional rainfall to compound flooding concerns.”
One of those who died was a man swept away in a recreational vehicle, Abbott said Thursday. John Mark Steward, 65, died after being carried off in his mobile home in Kerrville, his wife told The San Antonio Express-News. CNN has not been able to confirm Steward’s death with authorities.
A 74-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, also died while driving near Uvalde, police said. A Department of Public Safety crew spotted his vehicle bobbing in floodwaters about four miles north of the city around 10:30 a.m. local time and later confirmed his death, the Uvalde Police Department said Thursday.
The National Weather Service had early Thursday issued a flash flood emergency – its highest alert – for Kerrville, Ingram and Hunt, among the communities hit hardest a year ago by devastating floods that killed at least 130 people, including 25 girls and two counselors. The alert has since expired.
‘The priority was to get out’
Authorities warned that “a large and deadly flood wave” was moving down the Guadalupe River, before it crested at 37.94 feet in Center Point Thursday morning – a height slightly below last year’s flood. A river gauge in Comfort found levels rose 25 feet in a single hour and remained at flood stage Thursday as officials kept watch on swollen creeks.
More than 80 people were evacuated from riverside campgrounds before floodwaters reached dangerous levels, the governor said.
In Comfort, a group of 42 relatives who had gathered for their family’s 40th annual reunion fled a riverside hotel on Thursday morning, CNN affiliate KENS reported.
“We grabbed just what we needed and what we could get right away,” Amy Thogmartin, who had traveled from Brooklyn, told KENS. “But the priority was to get out. And we’re glad we did, because the people that got back immediately after that, maybe 20 minutes later, the water had risen maybe another 10 feet.”
In the Hill Country, videos showed water inundating streets and swallowing bridges as first responders plucked stranded residents from the current and families surveyed the wreckage. One family told CNN it sheltered for hours in the attic of its Kerrville home as the water rose beneath them, until a rescue boat arrived. In Boerne, footage captured a group of deer being carried off by the flood.
All children’s summer camps in Kerr County confirmed their campers were safe, according to the county sheriff’s office. First responders cleared about 50 homes in flood-prone areas, said Jerel Haley, the Kerrville police chief.
‘We are still reeling’
Officials said the warning systems built since last year’s catastrophic floods were activated in Kerr County in the early hours before water levels began to rise, allowing for people to react quickly to flooding threats.
“The same circumstances that occurred last year occurred again this morning but this time, our towers intervened and woke people and got them out of the way,” said Ian Cunningham, founder and CEO of River Sentry, a Texas-based company that installed 105 flood-warning towers along the Guadalupe River since last year. “You could make the argument that these were critical in intervening and saving lives.”
The flooding brings back painful memories for the community, as many residents are still grieving the losses caused by last July’s floods, Kerrville Police Chief Jerel Haley said Thursday.
“We are still reeling from what happened a year ago,” Haley said. “To have this happen again so suddenly is literally quite devastating for a lot of us.”
Some residents said the alerts bought them time. Jake Lamb, 22, of Kerr County, told CNN the area “hasn’t fully recovered” from last year, but that this time the warnings were relentless.
“A lot of phone alerts, a lot of flash flood alerts. Just constant. We got calls, we got texts, we got a good amount of them,” he said. “The learning experience from last year was major.”
At a Kerrville RV park, which saw a number of deaths last July when people were trapped inside their vehicles, the owner, Lorena Guillen, said everyone was safe in the recent flooding. Sirens went off around 2 a.m. local time along the river, she said. Last year, the warnings did not come until it was too late, she said.
Abbott said last year’s disaster reshaped how the state responds to floods. “What happened last year was a warning to people on or near rivers … that no one can be complacent when rainfall and waters rise,” he said. “Now we’re being very aggressive when the waters start coming down the skies and start rising out of rivers.”
More rain to come
Storms are expected to ease by Friday afternoon, with a lower-level flood threat lingering mainly in the southwestern part of the state. However, even lower levels of rain remain a concern as the ground is already so soaked that it will take less to trigger serious flooding. The threat is expected to shift west out of the area as the day progresses.
“Together, all of us Texans can be diligent over the next 24 hours to make sure we avoid rising water or heading into water on roadways,” Abbott said. “If we can do that, we’ll make it through this episode with nobody else losing their life.”
The Hill Country is especially prone to flooding issues because its steep slopes, shallow soils and exposed bedrock repel heavy rain instead of absorbing it.
Extreme rainfall events like this are becoming more common as planet-warming pollution drives temperatures higher, because warmer air holds more moisture – which storms can then wring out like a water-laden sponge in heavy, localized downpours.
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CNN’s Meteorologist Dakota Smith, Chris Dolce and CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow, Sara Smart, David Williams, Alisha Ebrahimji, Maria Aguilar Prieto, Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this report.
