{"id":375131,"date":"2026-07-16T06:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375131\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T06:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:02:26","slug":"heavy-rain-drenches-south-texas-as-forecasters-warn-more-storms-could-bring-flash-flooding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375131\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavy rain drenches South Texas as forecasters warn more storms could bring flash flooding"},"content":{"rendered":"

UVALDE, Texas \u2014 Slow-moving storms drenched much of southern Texas with more heavy rain on Wednesday, prompting warnings to evacuate flooded areas after downpours washed out roads<\/a> and farmland and led to dozens of high-water rescues across the region.<\/p>\n

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The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in the northwestern part of San Antonio near Interstate 10. Videos posted on social media showed what appeared to be a small twister. Local officials said apartment buildings and other properties were damaged.<\/p>\n

Warnings of potentially dangerous flash flooding<\/a> were in effect for some areas as the deluge was forecast to continue through Thursday evening, and authorities ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts of Uvalde County. They also urged people in other areas and the city of Boerne, outside San Antonio, to voluntarily evacuate rather than be marooned by high water.<\/p>\n

In Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding last year <\/a>killed more than 100 people, officials were in contact with summer camps and retreat centers near rising rivers.<\/p>\n

As much as 10 to 20 inches of rain was possible in some places before the storms move out, the weather service said.<\/p>\n

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries from the tornado or the flooding.<\/p>\n

More than a foot of rain has fallen, with more to come<\/p>\n

The highest rainfall totals so far have been up to 16 inches in Uvalde County, where officials tallied 25 rescues as of 9 a.m. Wednesday and said more people needed help as river levels rose. Highways and roads were closed across the region because of high water.<\/p>\n

The county normally gets about 23 inches of rain a year, according to the Uvalde County Extension Office.<\/p>\n

The Uvalde Police Department said on Facebook at 1 p.m. that a dam in the northern part of the county was still intact, but the Leona River was still expected to rise another 15 feet. Police warned people along the river to get to higher ground.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Don McLaughlin said that despite a \u201clittle lull,\u201d the rain wasn\u2019t done and waterways could become more dangerous. \u201cThe rivers and the creeks are going to be coming up, and they\u2019re going to be coming up again with a vengeance,\u201d McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n

Frances McNamara and her 10-year-old son, Everett, watched the bloated Leona River in Uvalde sweep southward Wednesday as she considered possible evacuation routes. She pointed to a solid line of dirt, branches and twigs about 8 feet above the river where the water reached the day before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the water rise, but not to this extent,\u201d she said, describing how it rushed through a ditch next to her home with enough force to sound like a river on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s severe weather brought back memories of last year\u2019s deadly flooding in Texas Hill Country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt scared me,\u201d said McNamara, her eyes wet with tears as she recalled the 2025 floods. \u201c\u2019Cause I have a son, and to know what those parents went through.\u201d Her son reached up and patted her back.<\/p>\n

Some mandatory evacuations ordered in Uvalde<\/p>\n

Uvalde police ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts, with first responders notifying people affected directly, the department said on Facebook. Others were asked to stay vigilant in case more evacuations are needed.<\/p>\n

Lightning flashed as clouds darkened the landscape Wednesday across Uvalde, where the typically calm Leona River poured over low bridges. The riverbanks were strewn with debris, including branches and grass, plastic bags and a cactus, from a day earlier when the river was several feet higher.<\/p>\n

The night had brought booming thunder through a steady rain, swelling the rivers and creeks that ran through or just around the town. The rain would abate, then pummel the small town with heavy drops, before lifting again.<\/p>\n

\"TexasGame wardens walk through high water following heavy rain in Uvalde County, Texas, on Tuesday. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department via AP<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.<\/p>\n

Authorities posted videos on Tuesday showing a rescue crew in a boat navigating flooded streets and a vehicle being swept away by fast-moving water. Five people were rescued by the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman.<\/p>\n

Other areas of Texas could get dangerous flooding<\/p>\n

Forecasters warned that hilly terrain in other parts of the region could be especially vulnerable to heavy rain.<\/p>\n

The highest level of concern for potentially dangerous flooding<\/a> Wednesday was for areas west of San Antonio and north of Route 90, weather service meteorologist Monte Oaks said.<\/p>\n

In Boerne, a city of about 24,000 northwest of San Antonio, residents of several areas were told by officials to either evacuate voluntarily or prepare to shelter in place as water rose. City spokesperson Chris Shadrock said in a video post on Facebook that high-water rescues were ongoing and that the city\u2019s busiest intersection was \u201ccompletely underwater.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a life-threatening weather event. I don\u2019t want to mince words about how serious this situation is,\u201d Shadrock said.<\/p>\n

He said the water was rising even in areas that don\u2019t usually flood.<\/p>\n

First responders helped a woman escape after a car was swept off Boerne\u2019s River Road by the fast-rising Cibolo Creek.<\/p>\n

People in about 20 vehicles were stranded in a nearby gas station parking lot when every surrounding street quickly flooded. Police officers blocked the exits to keep people from trying to ford the roads.<\/p>\n

Kendall County is home to nearly 53,300 people, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. About 45% of them live in the southern portion of the county in Boerne, where the Cibolo Creek reached 22.47 feet as of 1 p.m., according to a USGS gauge<\/a>, about 19 feet higher than just two days before.<\/p>\n

Oaks said the rain is being fueled with tropical moisture, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico and some from the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is called a typical midsummer tropical weather pattern that happens in Texas,\u201d Oaks said. \u201cAbout once every five years, we\u2019ll get socked in with a daily recurrence of heavy rain chances that\u2019s generally produced by a stagnant kind of a pattern with a low-pressure center that\u2019s just not moving very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UVALDE, Texas \u2014 Slow-moving storms drenched much of southern Texas with more heavy rain on Wednesday, prompting warnings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-375131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}