Fatalities confirmed in Central Texas flooding, officials say
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At least 13 fatalities reported in Texas as devastating floods slam Hill Country, officials say - CBS Texas
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Water rescues and evacuations are underway in central Texas Friday morning after torrential sent river levels surging and triggering deadly flash flooding.
At a news conference late Friday morning, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly declined to specify the number of casualties or missing, but said authorities may do so Friday afternoon. Kerr County is about 75 miles west of Austin.
Kelly said they have yet to identify most of the dead. "We're having to fingerprint them at the funeral home. One of them was completely naked, didn't have any ID on them at all," he said.
Kerr County is home to many summer camps, and some of the children attending them are among the missing or stranded. At the news conference, a reporter pressed Kelly on why the camps had not been evacuated on Thursday after an advisory from the Texas Department of Emergency Management.
"No one knew this flood was coming," Kelly said. "We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."
TDEM and the Texas Department of Public Safety are among the agencies working with local emergency responders, officials said at the news conference.
Just before noon Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that the state is sending all available resources to the area.
"That includes water rescue teams, sheltering centers, the National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety. The immediate priority is saving lives," Abbott said.
Torrential rain from Kerrville to San Angelo
In Kerrville, the seat of Kerr County, Mayor Joe Herring Jr. issued a disaster declaration for the city Friday morning due to the dangerous flooding.
Widespread rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches, with some reports of over 10 inches, have fallen from San Angelo to Kerrville since late Thursday evening, prompting multiple flash flood emergencies as the Fourth of July holiday weekend began.
Flash flood emergencies are the most severe form of flood warning, and the NWS has issued at least five of them since 4 a.m. CT in parts of Tom Green, Kerr and Kendall counties. San Angelo, home to nearly 100,000 people, is in Tom Green County.
Two parks in Kerrville are , the city confirmed on social media. Evacuations were underway after floodwater reached cabins visitors rent in Kerrville-Schreiner Park around sunrise Friday.
In San Angelo, about 125 miles northwest of Kerrville, the police department issued an alert Friday morning warning people to "stay in your residence and avoid traveling" and to "shelter in place in the downtown area."
More than an entire summer's worth of rain fell in some spots in just a few hours, quickly overwhelmed dry soils and created significant flash flooding. Central Texas is currently home to some of the worst drought in the United States and bone-dry soils flood very quickly.
Guadalupe River flooding nears record high
Water level measurements along parts of the Guadalupe River near the Kerr County community of Hunt "indicate a large and deadly flood wave is moving down the Guadalupe River," the NWS warned. The river rose 22 feet in just three hours and was at its second-highest level on record early Friday morning. A few hours later, the river gauge that measured that rise was damaged and out of operation as a result of the flooding, according to the National Weather Service in Austin.
San Angelo typically records about an inch of rain during July, but reports around the city from overnight rain range from around 2 inches to upwards of 10.
Hunt, near Kerrville, received about 6.5 inches of rain in just three hours early Friday morning, which is considered a 1-in-100-year rainfall event for the area — meaning it has about a 1% chance of happening in any given year.
Heavy rain will continue to fall Friday morning as slow-moving storms stall over the same hard-hit areas. Storms could linger into the afternoon in some places before finally easing up. Any additional rain will likely further worsen ongoing flooding issues and could prompt new areas of dangerous flooding.
