As floodwaters rise, Corpus Christi answers Texas’ call for help

An emergency medical team deploys while the city waits to see if the storms bring much-needed water home.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi sends emergency medical team to Hill Country as officials hope floodwaters reach local reservoirs

While another round of dangerous flooding threatens parts of the Texas Hill Country, Corpus Christi is sending help while also watching the storm’s potential impact on the Coastal Bend’s water supply.

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The Texas Division of Emergency Management asked the Corpus Christi Fire Department to deploy one of its emergency medical teams and its AMBUS to Uvalde to provide medical support if conditions worsen during the flooding.

For many of the firefighters, the mission is familiar.

“We were there in Kerrville a year ago. We were there for I think over a month,” said David Saenz, deputy fire chief of operations with the Corpus Christi Fire Department.

The firefighters assigned to the deployment are part of the state’s Emergency Medical Task Force AMBUS program. 

“The people that are going today, they’re part of the emergency medical task force AMBUS program, which they are all paramedics. They’ve had advanced training in different types of EMS care,” Saenz said.

While crews travel north to assist flood victims, city leaders in Corpus Christi are also closely monitoring the heavy rainfall falling across our watershed.

Forecasts keep the most significant rainfall north and west of Corpus Christi, but officials say water flowing through the Frio and Nueces rivers could eventually reach the region’s drought-stricken reservoirs.

Video provided by KENS 5 journalist Sue Calberg shows floodwaters covering portions of the Highway 90 bridge over the Frio River as rivers continue rising across the Hill Country.

“Unfortunately the rain event will be further north and west of Corpus Christi, but in the watershed and so we just have to be hopeful that some of that rain does make it down,” Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni said.

John Byrum, CEO of the Nueces River Authority, said flooding around Uvalde and Sabinal had already become severe enough that he instructed employees in the area to leave before roads became impassable.

“They’re in Sabinal just east of Uvalde on Highway 90. You can’t tell the highway there either. I mean it’s really flooding. The rivers are picking up,” Byrum said.

Officials say if enough water continues moving downstream through the Frio and Nueces rivers, it could provide a welcome boost to area reservoirs. However, it will likely take at least a week before they know how much of the floodwater ultimately reaches the lakes.