KERRVILLE, Texas – The Lone Star State continues to grapple with a heartbreaking series of events. Just over a week after the initial catastrophic and deadly deluges, heavy rains and devastating flash floods have returned, pounding Texas once more.
A riverside memorial in Kerrville, Texas, is steadily becoming a central gathering point for the community to mourn and remember those taken by the recent floods.
This renewed onslaught, particularly intense on Sunday, not only caused widespread damage and new evacuations but has also severely hindered ongoing search and rescue operations for the dozens still missing from the initial July 4 floods.
The initial floods have already claimed at least 129 lives, with over 170 people still unaccounted for.
The latest gut punch to the state saw significant rainfall return over the weekend, leading to fresh Flash Flood Emergencies as the San Saba River rapidly rose to major flood stage, prompting mandatory evacuations for residents in low-lying areas.
Meanwhile, the city of Kerrville, still reeling from the previous week’s events, experienced another round of intense downpours, with local police urging residents and even news crews to move away from the rapidly swelling Guadalupe River.
“(It’s) the last thing that these search crews need as they are still looking for so many still missing from last weekend’s flash flooding,” reported FOX Weather’s Katie Byrne from Kerrville on Monday morning. “That search still happening in miles of riverbanks and in the water, and we’re expecting more rain here, unfortunately, through Wednesday.”
Byrne had been in Kerrville reporting on the disaster when her cellphone began to blare, warning people to move to higher ground.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed that dozens of rescues took place in areas like Lampasas and San Saba, where rivers and creeks swelled dramatically. Lampasas, located northeast of Kerr County, saw its river rise from a normal 10-foot level to over 30 feet, leading to widespread road closures and evacuations.
Sunday’s intermittent heavy rainfall temporarily suspended some search efforts for victims from the initial Fourth of July 4 flooding, which devastated communities, particularly in Kerr County. The death toll, primarily concentrated in that county, continues to climb, with many of the missing, including young campers at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River.
The FOX Forecast Center said Kerrville saw another 3-4 inches of rain in only a couple of hours Sunday. The Guadalupe near Hunt, Texas, luckily remained out of any flood stage, even with all of the rain that fell.
Despite the setbacks, teams of first responders stress that they are determined to resume their critical, life-saving work Monday as the immediate threat of the heaviest storms diminishes.
The FOX Forecast Center said the chances of storms will start to decrease on Monday, heading into Tuesday. However, even though fewer storms are expected overall, any storm that does develop could bring a quick 1-2 inches of rain.
Heading into next weekend, the entire state of Texas will begin to dry out as a large mid-level ridge parks itself over the south, the FOX Forecast Center adds. This will deflect any storms up-and-over the ridge, leaving Texas dry.
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