COTULLA, Texas \u2014 Gov. Greg Abbott praised local leaders in Cotulla and La Salle County on Friday for their response to recent flooding, saying preparations helped protect residents as the Nueces River rose to major flood stage.<\/p>\n
Abbott said local officials spent days preparing for the flooding by warning residents, knocking on doors and encouraging evacuations ahead of rising water. He called La Salle County’s response a model for how communities should prepare for flood emergencies.<\/p>\n
After surveying the area by Black Hawk helicopter, Abbott said the Cotulla area experienced some of the highest floodwaters he has seen during the July flooding, with widespread water covering the landscape and damage to homes and infrastructure. He said he also saw signs that recovery efforts were already underway.<\/p>\n
According to Abbott, the Nueces River crested at 29 feet, 3 inches in Cotulla and had dropped to about 25 feet by Friday. He said water levels are expected to continue falling, allowing cleanup efforts to expand.<\/p>\n
Abbott said at least 48 homes in Cotulla have sustained damage, including at least six with major damage. However he noted those figures are preliminary because floodwaters have prevented full damage assessments. Some businesses also sustained damage, and additional impacts are expected to be identified as waters recede.<\/p>\n
The governor said transportation remains one of the biggest challenges, with multiple roads still closed because of flooding. He said the Texas Department of Transportation is prioritizing road repairs while the state works with local officials to speed debris removal and recovery efforts.<\/p>\n
Abbott also thanked local first responders, volunteers and state agencies for their work during the flooding response, saying their coordinated efforts helped protect the community and support recovery efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COTULLA, Texas \u2014 Gov. Greg Abbott praised local leaders in Cotulla and La Salle County on Friday for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-385747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385747","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=385747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}