Flooding force more evacuations in Texas
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (AP) – Floodwater that devastated the San Antonio area spilled into more houses Sunday as it flowed toward the Gulf of Mexico. Severe flooding also hit the Abilene area, about 150 miles to the northwest, following a surprise storm that dumped a foot of rain Saturday.
Most evacuees from Abilene began returning to waterlogged homes on Sunday, but the water from the storm was still rising elsewhere.
About 75 miles to the southeast, residents of Brownwood frantically piled sandbags around homes and businesses Sunday as water rushed through downtown. Lake Brownwood was 7.65 feet above its spillway Sunday and was expected to crest overnight a foot or more higher.
In south-central Texas, where more than 30 inches of rain fell in places last week, water levels were dropping in the Hill Country and San Antonio on Sunday.
The flooding had been blamed for at least eight deaths and tens of millions of dollars in property damage. In some place, the rivers had crested as high as 28 feet above flood stage.
In areas where evacuees were returning, the overflowing rivers were still a threat, said William Ayres, a spokesman for the Texas Division of Emergency Management in Austin.
“It’s still a very dangerous situation,” Ayres said Sunday.
Steve Dean returned to his house on the bank of the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels on Sunday, and to his surprise found only a little water on the floor. The house stands on reinforced stilts rising from the foundation of a house destroyed by the record flood of 1998.
“It’s not as bad as what we thought,” said Dean, whose neighbors’ homes were carried away by the river on Friday and Saturday. “I thought when the water started getting up higher, it would take (the house) off those concrete columns.”
The Guadalupe and other rivers originating in the Hill Country were flooding cities and croplands across a low-lying coastal plain leading to the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.
Large numbers of cattle were believed to be isolated or drowned along the San Antonio River, which was expected to crest 30 feet above flood stage by Monday at Goliad. The river flows south from the city of San Antonio through a broad expanse of crop and ranch land before emptying into the Guadalupe River near the gulf.
About two dozen houses were expected to be flooded in Goliad County, said Mary Jane Martin, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.
In Abilene, where the city in one day got about the equivalent of half its usual annual rainfall, residents had scrambled to get out of their homes as several creeks cutting through the city became torrents.
Even as the water began receding Sunday, Abilene authorities were warning residents not to wade or drive through the snake-infested deep water. There was a chance of several more inches of rain Sunday.
“We have been extremely fortunate and extremely pleased that we had no reported injuries. The way people act, it’s surprising,” said Abilene Police Sgt. Kim Vickers. “They just choose to ignore the warnings and barricades.”