Floodwaters have forced the closure of a stretch of U.S. Highway 90 in Kinney County early Thursday, July 16. Kinney County Judge John Paul Schuster wrote on Facebook that the highway is closed in both directions, cutting off travel toward Del Rio and Uvalde as heavy rain continues to inundate South Texas.
Schuster added in his post that high water has covered portions of the highway near Ranch Road 1572 and into neighboring Val Verde County, while a Flash Flood Warning remains in effect for the area until 11:30 a.m.
The county official urged drivers to stay off the roads until daylight, warning that rising water has covered multiple sections of the highway while crews work to block traffic and protect motorists.
” Be patient this will clear up,” he wrote.
U.S. Highway 90 is one of South Texas’ primary east-west highways, connecting San Antonio, Hondo, Uvalde, Brackettville and Del Rio before continuing west toward Van Horn and east across the state to Houston and Louisiana, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Several areas in Central and South Texas are under a Flash Flood Warning, with a rare Flash Flood Emergency issued for parts of Uvalde County, including the city of Uvalde and Knippa, due to “catastrophic, life-threatening flooding.” Forecasters say relentless storms dumped as much as 20 inches of rain over the past two days, including 8 inches in just the last two hours.