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UVALDE, Texas \u2014<\/p>\nFlash floods in Texas leave at least 2 dead in region devastated a year ago<\/p>\n
UVALDE, Texas \u2014<\/p>\n
Catastrophic flash floods in Texas have killed two people and forced hundreds of rescues in areas still reeling from devastating floods a year ago, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Rescuers aboard boats and helicopters have saved more than 200 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Abbott said.<\/p>\n
The governor said the hardest-hit areas are expecting more rain into Friday and are not out of danger yet, with some rivers expected to reach historic levels.<\/p>\n
After days of pounding rain, the National Weather Service said a large wave on Thursday barreled down the same river wrecked by flash floods last summer when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic.<\/p>\n
Much like last year, the floods came in the middle of the night. But this time some residents in the Texas Hill Country said they received more warnings.<\/p>\n
Related video below: Oklahoma teams deploy to southern Texas as flooding worsens<\/p>\n
Forecasters urgently warned, \u201cMove to higher ground now!\u201d as rivers rose hour by hour. Some spots of the Guadalupe River rose by more than 30 feet (9 meters).<\/p>\n
The governor said more than 2,000 first responders had been deployed and some evacuations began before the worst of the flooding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened last year was a warning to people on or near rivers,” Abbott said. \u201cNo one can be complacent.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as 28 inches (74 centimeters) of rain fell over the past three days in Uvalde County, which was spared from the worst flooding a year ago, the weather service said Thursday. Other areas saw roughly a foot of rain.<\/p>\n
Video below: Severe weather hits the country, from Texas floods to Colorado wildfires<\/p>\n
Victims in Texas floods were swept away<\/p>\n
The governor said one of the victims was driving on a flooded road and was swept away near Uvalde while the other died in Kerr County.<\/p>\n
Jennie Steward said the body of her husband, 65-year-old John Mark Steward, of Kerrville, was found Thursday. <\/p>\n
Related video below: Good Samaritan helps rescue man from Texas flooded creek<\/p>\n
She was visiting her parents when a neighbor called overnight, saying her husband was missing after water had risen to the door of their mobile home, which stood off the ground.<\/p>\n
The entire home was swept off the platform and floated down Goat Creek on the Guadalupe, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard that I wasn\u2019t there with him,\u201d she said. The two last spoke by phone Wednesday to celebrate their third anniversary.<\/p>\n
Hill Country residents say they were better prepared<\/p>\n
The unfolding crisis brought back haunting memories of last summer’s unimaginable Hill Country floods that killed more than 100 people over the July Fourth holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy happening two times in one year,\u201d said Josiah Rodriguez, who awoke 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. Some local leaders were criticized for not acting quickly.<\/p>\n
The storms and flooding this time threatened multiple counties close to the Mexico border and in the Hill Country near San Antonio. Roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch this week, and many were expected to remain in effect into Friday.<\/p>\n
Several agencies sent rescue helicopters to the flood zone, including Travis County in the state capital of Austin.<\/p>\n
Residents rush animals and campers to higher ground<\/p>\n
At a wild animal rescue, Katie Buck evacuated several dozen animals to higher ground in the dark Thursday as the normally dry Lazy Creek overflowed. She got all of the animals to safety, but flooding destroyed several enclosures at the Buck Wild Animal Rescue and Wildlife Rehab near Ingram in Kerr County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were just starting to get back on our feet again,\u201d Buck said. \u201cTo have to go through this again is just devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents at an RV park in Comfort moved their trailers as sirens sounded, manager Duke Earwood said.<\/p>\n
Water rose over the hoods of vehicles parked near the river at the Comfort RV Resort. Markers showed the flooding already matched last July’s big flood.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo familiar for sure, and too soon,\u201d Earwood said.<\/p>\n
Uvalde residents isolated by floodwaters<\/p>\n
Floodwaters also overran the city of Uvalde overnight, cutting off most outside routes. 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 nervously watched water engulf her neighborhood as a helicopter roared overhead. \u201cWe have a place to go, but all the streets are closed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said authorities seemed to be prepared, ordering mandatory evacuations and notifying people directly.<\/p>\n
After staying up most of the night, Casy Sanford and her husband felt like things were OK at their home in Uvalde as the downpour and heavy winds let up. Texas Game Wardens were outside their door just a few hours later, evacuating the couple, Sanford\u2019s son and three daughters, her mother-in-law and two dogs by boat Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
Sanford said she felt \u201cmere shock\u201d as they left most everything and closed the door behind them, water seeping into the ground floor of the only home her little girls have known.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy little one was scared. She kept grabbing my hand real tight,\u201d Sanford said of her 8-year-old. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what we\u2019ll see when we get back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanford later said a neighbor had visited her family\u2019s home and found water had climbed as high as their kitchen counters.<\/p>\n
Texas Game Wardens rescued close to 150 people by the afternoon, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson. Video released by the agency showed crews hoisting children from a house surrounded with water into a helicopter.<\/p>\n
Uvalde resident Jose Maldonado said water reached the first step to the entrance of his RV on Wednesday and rose above the door on Thursday. Floodwaters took down nearby walls, moved cars, flipped a trailer and left behind debris, he said.<\/p>\n
He and his wife planned to stay with his parents until they could return to clean up.<\/p>\n
Video below: Vehicle partly submerged in Texas floodwaters<\/p>\n
Flooding hasn’t reached last year’s deadly high<\/p>\n
So far, the Guadalupe has remained below the record levels reached in 2025. Close to Camp Mystic, which hasn’t reopened since last year’s tragedy, the Guadalupe near Hunt reached about 20.5 feet (6.3 meters), which is enough to cause flooding, according to U.S. Geological Survey and National Water Prediction Service data.<\/p>\n
In Kerr County, where summer camps dot the river’s shores, the sheriff\u2019s office said all campers were safe. Several camps said the children were staying inside, with one camp reporting normal flooding.<\/p>\n
While the water didn\u2019t rise as high as a year ago in Ingram, Mayor Claud Jordan believes this round of flooding was more widespread in his city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a bunch of businesses that haven\u2019t reopened from last year,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 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 filling the narrow river basins.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Stengle reported from Dallas and Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa. 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; Anna Wilder in Austin, Texas; Laura Turbay in Little Rock, Arkansas; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flash floods in Texas leave at least 2 dead in region devastated a year ago UVALDE, Texas \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2330,132765,133069,4544,6629,15391,9982,101446,4178,133070,4035,3970,133071,132764,1971,391,2385,133067,3175,27,13890,29,28,4510,133068,410,50574],"class_list":["post-376346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-camp-mystic","tag-dangerous-flooding","tag-dozen-child","tag-extreme-weather","tag-flood-rescue","tag-flood-watch","tag-floods","tag-floodwater","tag-hill-country","tag-inch","tag-kerrville","tag-ldnd","tag-major-highway","tag-multiple-county","tag-national-weather-service","tag-people","tag-rain","tag-rainstorms","tag-rescue","tag-texas","tag-texas-flooding","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-uvalde","tag-uvalde-county-office","tag-water","tag-wednesday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376346","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=376346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}