Pounding rain and strong winds battered Central Texas on Sunday morning, prompting some rescuers to halt search operations for victims of the deadly floods that roared through the region just over a week ago.
Several areas along the Guadalupe River, including Kerr County, the region hit hardest by the devastating floods on July 4, were under flash flood warnings on Sunday as a slow-moving storm system brought heavy precipitation.
The National Weather Service reported early Sunday that the heaviest rain was in northern Llano and Burnet Counties, but by midmorning, it had shifted to Kerr County. Still, the rainfall this time around was not expected to be as extreme as it was on July 4, forecasters said.
In Kerrville, the seat of Kerr County and the epicenter of the July 4 floods, a flash flood warning was in effect until 11:30 a.m. Central time. The city’s officials directed all search crews and volunteers in the Guadalupe River corridor, who were continuing to look for the some 170 people still missing from the July 4 floods, to evacuate.
The new threat of flooding comes as communities and residents across Central Texas are still reeling from the catastrophic floods, which have killed at least 129 people statewide. While hopes of finding those still missing have diminished, state and local officials have vowed to continue until every person is found.
In Kerrville on Sunday morning, cars driving along Sidney Baker Street sprayed large streams of water as the rain came down in sheets, and officials shut down access to some streets downtown as the water began to pool. State troopers asked people along the Guadalupe River to move to higher ground.
Kerrville officials also announced that Highway 39 was closed to everyone except residents and emergency workers. Just outside the city, drivers blinded by heavy rains were forced to exit the freeway at a rest stop to wait for the storm to pass. There, they listened to the booms of thunder and the din of pelting rain on their windshields.
Elsewhere in Kerr County, a flood warning was in effect for the Guadalupe River in Hunt, around 12 miles from Kerrville, through Monday morning. While the river was not expected to reach catastrophic levels, forecasters urged the public to avoid driving through flooded roads and bridges.
Some flooding had already been reported in the northern parts of the Hill Country, Orlando Bermudez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office for Austin and San Antonio, said early Sunday.
The Weather Prediction Center issued a “moderate” risk for flash flooding across the region through early Monday morning, with the most rainfall expected in the corridor between the Hill Country and the Dallas metro area.
While the rains this week are expected to be less intense than those last week, forecasters warned that the already-saturated ground made the area highly vulnerable.
Near Llano, Texas, about 75 miles northwest of Austin, the Llano River was already at a moderate level of flooding on Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The river had risen to nearly 16 feet high from about three feet high, and forecasters warned that it could exceed 18 feet later in the day. A flood warning was in effect for the river through Tuesday morning.
The Lampasas River was also at a moderate flooding level near Kempner, about 70 miles north of Austin. It had risen to more than 31 feet high on Sunday from less than two feet high. A flood warning was issued there through late Monday morning. The National Weather Service said major flooding was forecast on Sunday, though the river was expected to fall below flood levels later in the evening.
The renewed risk of flooding is being driven by a weather system high in the atmosphere that is stalled between two high-pressure systems. It has remained parked over Texas, providing ideal conditions for thunderstorms to repeatedly develop. Another weak system in the area is adding to the instability and fueling the continued storm activity, especially on Sunday afternoon.
Forecasters expected the storm system to stretch from the southwest to the northeast through the day, increasing the likelihood of additional rounds of thunderstorms.
And the flooding risk was expected to linger, with more rain forecast into early next week.
“The rain is going to continue Sunday night into Monday,” Mr. Bermudez said. “Then the chances for rain start to decrease Monday into Tuesday, with a dry forecast midweek to late week.”
Sonia A. Rao contributed reporting.
Soumya Karlamangla is a Times reporter who covers California. She is based in the Bay Area.
Nazaneen Ghaffar is a Times reporter on the Weather team.
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