Torrential rains have submerged much of Central Texas in floodwater, leaving at least one dead, forcing people from their homes and threatening several communities along the surging Guadalupe River.
City and county officials all across Texas Hill Country, particularly areas west and northwest of San Antonio, have issued flash flood warnings and evacuation notices, saying the conditions are “life threatening.”
The authorities reported one fatality in Kerr County, and Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that emergency workers had rescued more than 75 people, adding that more than a thousand state workers had been deployed to respond to the flooding. He also said the rain was likely to break records.
Along with the water came damaging winds. Some Texans woke up on Thursday to bewildering spots of destruction — uprooted trees and mangled buildings.
Flash flood emergencies were in effect for Uvalde, Kerr and Kendall Counties on Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service, which labeled the storm a “particularly dangerous situation” — its most dire warning — and warned residents to “move to higher ground now.”
Heavy rain and flash flooding are not uncommon in Texas in mid-July. But this week’s rain brought painful memories of the catastrophic flood about a year ago in Central Texas that killed 139 people, including 25 campers from Camp Mystic, a girls’ camp on the Guadalupe River.
Texas Hill Country is part of an area known as “Flash Flood Alley” that is particularly susceptible to dangerous flooding because of its steep terrain and shallow soil that does not soak up much water.
Part of the area is in a floodplain between tall hills that funnel rainfall into rivers and creeks. As the temperature of the air rises, the atmosphere can hold more moisture that intensifies the rainfall.
In and around Uvalde, about 80 miles west of San Antonio and one of the cities most affected by flooding, officials closed major highways and many city streets and ordered residents to shelter in place unless they were in immediate danger. Businesses along much of Main Street were closed as the water crept higher and higher overnight into Thursday.
Gat Mitchell, who co-owns a honey business in Uvalde, said that the rising floodwaters had soaked important paperwork, like invoices, and washed away thousands of dollars’ worth of inventory. “Jars spilled out,” he said. “Glass broke.”
The flooding has not been not so bad in San Antonio, where he lives, he said. But the rain was adding up there, too, and the roads were a mess. “There was just wreck on wreck on wreck,” he said.
Pooja Salhotra, Edgar Sandoval, Judson Jones, Christine Hauser and Isabella Kwai contributed reporting.
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