Central Texas has once again been hit with heavy rains and flooding, prompting rescues and evacuations just 10 days after catastrophic flooding hit the region and killed more than 130 people across the state.
Over the weekend, rains returned to the region, inundating already saturated soils and halting search efforts Sunday.
Devastating floods were unleashed in the Hill Country region July 4, when the Guadalupe River surged more than 20 feet. In hard-hit Kerr County, 106 people were killed. Overall in the state, at least 132 were killed and more than 160 remain unaccounted for.
As much as 6 to 10 inches of rain fell over central Texas over the weekend, leading to more flooding, including along the Llano, Lampasas and San Saba rivers. The Lampasas River, which runs through multiple counties, jumped 30 feet in less than five hours near Kempner, Texas.
Monday morning, a flood watch remains in effect for central Texas, which includes Kerrville, Uvalde, Brady, Round Rock and Austin.
Heavy rain between Uvalde and Kerrville has already dropped 3 to 6 inches of rain in the past 12 hours. Rain is also expected to move toward Kerrville on Monday morning, with downpours expected across this region throughout the day.
The slow-moving thunderstorms will lead to renewed flooding because of the already saturated soils.
Over the weekend, Kerr County issued a code red alert because of an excessive rainfall forecast. Kerr County was under a flash flood warning late Saturday into Sunday, and streets once again turned into rivers of fast-flowing water.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday the state was making rescues in San Saba, Lampasas and Schleicher counties and evacuations were underway in Lampasas, Menard, Kimble and Sutton counties. He said Texas Task Force 1 rescued “dozens” from the Lampasas area.
A flood warning is in effect on the Guadalupe River at Hunt on Monday as heavy rainfall moved into Kerr County and the Hunt area. In Kerrville, a flood watch is in place through 9 p.m. CT Monday.
The river, as of 4 a.m. local time, was at 8.45 feet and is forecast to reach moderate flood stage around 11 a.m. CT, with a stage of 14.6 feet, the National Weather Service office of Austin-San Antonio said early Monday.
“Seek higher ground along the riverbank,” the weather service warned.
At 4:30 a.m., the agency warned “a dangerous situation” was unfolding across northern Uvalde, eastern Real, western Bandera and southwest Kerr Counties after 2 to 4.78 inches of rain fell in the past three to four hours.
“More heavy rain is on the way. Flooding is already happening,” it said.
Regarding the Fourth of July weekend floods, more questions are being raised about whether local officials could have done more to warn those in flood zones.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said he’s unsure if he received an alert from the National Weather Service, which was sent around 1 a.m. July 4.
“I actually think I have my weather report stuff turned off if I’m being honest,” Rice told NBC’s Morgan Chesky. “Because one with my family, with first responders, again, I’m in it every single day. My phone stays on 24 hours, 7 days a week. We’re in constant communication with emergency responders.”
“So whether my stuff is on or not is really a moot point because we have teams of experts that can navigate” these types of situations, he continued.
City, county, and state leaders have all promised to conduct a full review of the flood response.
Mirna Alsharif contributed.
