{"id":376753,"date":"2026-07-17T12:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376753\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:13:07","slug":"more-than-30-rescued-in-gillespie-county-as-pedernales-river-floods-texas-hill-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376753\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 30 rescued in Gillespie County as Pedernales River floods Texas Hill Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas \u2014 Emergency crews carried out more than 30 rescues in Gillespie County on Thursday as floodwaters from the Pedernales River swept through the Texas Hill Country<\/a>, according to Fredericksburg Fire\/EMS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The rescues took place between about 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. as the river surged to its highest level since 1979. Crews pulled stranded motorists from rising water, evacuated flooded homes and rescued residents and visitors at an RV park threatened by the surge, officials said.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Pedernales River hits highest level since 1979, flash flood emergency in place<\/a><\/p>\n

The heaviest concentration of rescues occurred in southern Gillespie County near Highway 16 South and Morris-Tivydale Road, roughly 10 miles southwest of Fredericksburg.<\/p>\n

Aerial support played a key role in the response. The Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office said it called on Tango 82 Aviation for help tracking the flood’s path, and Sgt. Dustin Degraw was airborne within minutes to survey the fast-moving floodwaters. <\/p>\n

That aerial view allowed the sheriff’s office and other first responders to issue downriver warnings all the way to the Blanco County line, with deputies and Fredericksburg police going door to door along the Pedernales River and Ranch Road 1 to alert residents of the danger, Sheriff Chris Ayala said.<\/p>\n

“Today’s successful operations were made possible by the outstanding teamwork of our dedicated staff, volunteer fire departments, and state agency partners who worked together to keep our community safe,” Fredericksburg Fire\/EMS Chief Lynn Bizzell said Thursday. <\/p>\n

Ayala also thanked the community for supporting first responders throughout the day.<\/p>\n

“The heartfelt support this community has for its First Responders; not only in emergency situations, but all the time is greatly appreciated,” Ayala said.<\/p>\n

By Thursday evening, crews had shifted much of their focus to recovery work and damage assessments as floodwaters began receding in some areas. Officials reported roadway damage in multiple locations, including washed-out pavement and debris deposits.<\/p>\n

State Highway 16 South remained closed Thursday as the Texas Department of Transportation carried out repairs. A bridge on Old San Antonio Road was completely washed out, and washouts were also reported at Reeh Road and Reeh-Weinheimer Road. U.S. Highway 87 South had reopened.<\/p>\n

Gillespie County Judge Daniel Jones issued a local disaster declaration Thursday morning, a step officials said would help the county pursue additional state and federal resources as damage assessments continue.<\/p>\n

A shelter opened at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church, 1800 N. Llano St., was housing two people as of Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

Officials asked residents to report flood damage to a county hotline at 830-307-6246, and asked anyone unable to reach a loved one in Gillespie County to call the non-emergency dispatch line at 830-990-8793, option 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas \u2014 Emergency crews carried out more than 30 rescues in Gillespie County on Thursday as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-376753","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\/376753","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=376753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}