{"id":375665,"date":"2026-07-16T16:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375665\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T16:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:55:13","slug":"at-least-1-person-has-died-as-texas-flooding-forces-evacuations-and-high-water-rescues-governor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375665\/","title":{"rendered":"At least 1 person has died as Texas flooding forces evacuations and high-water rescues, governor says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Mike Erulenfeld and Kala Martin watch as the Pedernales River floods near Old Kerr Highway on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Fredericksburg, Texas. (AP Photo\/Joel Angel Juarez) <\/p>\n

UVALDE, Texas \u2014 There has been \u201cone loss of life\u201d in the catastrophic flooding sweeping across Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Drones and helicopters are flying over the region still recovering from devastating floods just a year ago, the governor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur number one focus is saving lives,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n

Rescuers have been plucking stranded drivers and people trapped in homes since floodwaters began rising quickly overnight Thursday.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. <\/p>\n

\"\"The Pedernales River floods underneath State Highway 87 on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Fredericksburg, Texas. (AP Photo\/Joel Angel Juarez) <\/p>\n

Original story:<\/p>\n

UVALDE, Texas \u2014 Rescuers plucked stranded drivers and people trapped in homes from catastrophic flooding in Texas while many more fled to higher ground Thursday across a region still recovering from devastating floods just a year ago.<\/p>\n

After days of pounding rain, the National Weather Service in San Antonio said a \u201clarge and deadly flood wave\u201d was barreling down the same river wrecked by flash floods last summer when two dozen children and counselors were killed at Camp Mystic. There was no immediate word of any deaths or injuries from the latest flooding.<\/p>\n

Forecasters urgently warned \u201cMove to higher ground now!\u201d as rivers rose hour by hour, turning them into fast-moving seas of white water. Several tornado warnings were also issued.<\/p>\n

The Texas Hill Country floods over the July Fourth holiday last year killed more than 100 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy happening two times in one year,\u201d said Josiah Rodriguez, who woke to the sound of heavy rain around 2 a.m. Thursday in Kerrville. He navigated flooded roads to help evacuate relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year there was no warning of it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just kind of happened overnight and it took everyone by surprise. This year, a lot more alerts have gone into place, a lot more safety measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents said they were caught off guard a year ago and didn\u2019t receive any warning when floods overtopped the Guadalupe River. Some local leaders were criticized for not acting quickly.<\/p>\n

The storms and flooding this time threatened multiple counties close to the border with Mexico and in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio. City officials in Kerrville urged people to shelter at the highest levels of their homes.<\/p>\n

Images along a creek in Kerr County showed propane tanks that had been pushed onto a bridge and a mess of tangled trees.<\/p>\n

\"\"A flood-damaged car hangs from a fence on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Boerne, Texas. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate) Uvalde residents isolated by floodwaters<\/p>\n

Floodwaters overran the city of Uvalde overnight, cutting off outside access. The Leona River, normally dry most of the year, filled streets with water.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople really can\u2019t get anywhere\u201d said Carmen Rodriguez, who was nervously watching water engulf her neighborhood Thursday morning as a helicopter roared overhead. \u201cWe have a place to go, but all the streets are closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phones buzzed with warnings throughout the night warning of flash floods in the morning. Rodriguez said it seemed that authorities were well prepared. By Wednesday, Uvalde police had ordered some mandatory evacuations, with first responders notifying people directly.<\/p>\n

Uvalde officials sent out rescue boats and found multiple people trapped in vehicles overnight, said Juli Alvarado, a spokesperson for Uvalde police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way into the city at this point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Texas Game Wardens rescued more than 40 people and evacuated about a dozen others, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Flooding could reach last year\u2019s deadly high<\/p>\n

The floodwaters were expected to reach a crest similar to last year\u2019s flood, the weather service said.<\/p>\n

Gauges in some spots along the Guadalupe River showed it rose by more than 30 feet in just hours overnight. One gauge outside Kerrville showed the river had risen 32 feet in four hours.<\/p>\n

Close to Camp Mystic, which remains shut, the Guadalupe River near Hunt reached about 20.5 feet, according to a U.S. Geological Survey gauge, which is just under the level expected to inundate structures and roads.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Pedernales River floods along State Highway 16 on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Fredericksburg, Texas. (AP Photo\/Joel Angel Juarez) Flooding hits towns still rebuilding<\/p>\n

Volunteer firefighters spent the night helping people evacuate their homes and answering calls about rising water in Ingram, just up river from Hunt, where summer camps dot the shores of the Guadalupe, Ingram Mayor Claud Jordan said Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

While the water didn\u2019t rise as high as a year ago, he believes this round of flooding was more widespread and \u201cworse\u201d in his city. \u201cThe rural part of Ingram, all the roads are just trashed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a bunch of businesses that haven\u2019t reopened from last year. They\u2019re still trying to rebuild from the July 4 floods,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

A rush to higher ground<\/p>\n

Residents at an RV park in Comfort, Texas, near the Guadalupe River moved their trailers as local fire department sirens sounded, manager Duke Earwood said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Water rose over the hoods of vehicles parked closest to the river.<\/p>\n

While the water started to recede, another surge was expected, Earwood said at the Comfort RV Resort, which has about 200 residents. \u201cPeople need to know to just kind of stay put for now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Markers showed the flooding already matched the level from the big flood last July.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo familiar for sure, and too soon,\u201d Earwood said.<\/p>\n

Another test for Texas Hill Country after the Camp Mystic disaster<\/p>\n

The Texas Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area\u2019s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before quickly filling the narrow river basins.<\/p>\n

The weather service said 10 to 20 inches of rain had fallen in the past two days, with 8 inches in just two hours early Thursday.<\/p>\n

The deluge dumped nearly a foot of rain in some counties and put people in multiple counties under flood watches, with some were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties. As of late Wednesday, six million residents in 57 counties were under a National Weather Service flood watch.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Stengle reported from Dallas. Associated Press writers Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Michael Phillis in Washington; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Erulenfeld and Kala Martin watch as the Pedernales River floods near Old Kerr Highway on Thursday, July…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-375665","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\/375665","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=375665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}