Official: ‘Wall of water destroyed everything in its path’

USA Today – by Rick Jervis

WIMBERLEY, Texas — Residents and officials faced an unprecedented wall of water during flash floods that crushed homes and swept away families over the weekend in Central Texas.

Rescue crews on Tuesday continued searching the length of the Blanco River for 13 people who remained missing, including a family of eight vacationing in a single home washed away, authorities said. There have been two confirmed deaths.  

A record surge 44 feet high sped down the Blanco River late Sunday, demolishing homes and businesses, Hays County Commissioner Will Conley said. The previous record on the river was 32 feet, recorded in 1926.

“It was literally a large wall of water that came down the Blanco River and destroyed everything in its path,” he said.

San Marcos city spokeswoman Kristi Wyatt said Tuesday afternoon that 30 people who were listed as missing had been accounted for in Hays County, about 35 miles southwest of Austin.

Emergency officials began sending out alerts to residents warning of the rapidly rising river at 6:30 pm Sunday, as the river rose 12 to 14 feet in 30 minutes, said Kharley Smith, the emergency management coordinator.

As the situation worsen, deputies went door to door to warn residents. The river grew at 223 cubic feet per second — the fastest rate ever recorded, she said.

At some point in the evening, the river gauge washed away.

Around 70 homes in Hays County were completely destroyed and 1,400 had some type of damage, county spokeswoman Laureen Chernow said. Several hundred have been displaced, she said.

The Wimberly area should get a few days of decent weather. But a low pressure system hovering over Texas could bring more torrential downpours to the area by the end of the week, potentially leading to more floods, Hays County Judge Bert Cobb said.

“This is not over,” he said.

In Houston, almost another foot of rain fell Tuesday. High water and flooding made many of the region’s roads impassable, prompting many officials to urge residents to stay home.

The fourth-largest city in the USA suffered some of its worst flooding in years as much of the city and its freeway system were under water.

Torrential rains sent Houston bayous out of their banks overnight, flooding hundreds of homes and stranding thousands of drivers. Houston firefighters reported they were called to more than 500 water-related rescues.

Mayor Annise Parker said as many as 4,000 properties may have suffered “significant damage.”

The dead Tuesday were in the Houston area. Two victims were found in cars in Houston, and two more were pulled from Brays Bayou, a watershed in southwest Harris County and portions of Fort Bend County.

In a tweet to USA TODAY, Titus Chow, who lives on Bays Bayou, took a photo of a helicopter circling to pull a body from the bayou. Chow said the photo was taken near the University of Houston.

Three others in the Houston area were still missing Tuesday.

On Interstate 10, one of Houston’s busiest freeways, a trip that is usually a five-minute drive to downtown, was virtually impassable.

The heavy rain caused a traffic nightmare with miles of stuck cars. Some people either slept in their cars or abandoned them. Some drivers also had to contend with water inside their vehicles.

Emergency officials spent the overnight hours rescuing hundreds of stranded drivers.

https://twitter.com/tituschow/status/603200399802179584

Harris County Flood District advised residents not to leave their homes Tuesday, while about 20 school districts announced closures or delays because of the severe flooding.

In Devine, southwest of San Antonio, high school homecoming queen Alyssa Ramirez died when her car was swept away after she left her prom. The 18-year-old was a cheerleader who played tennis and volleyball.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared disasters in 37 counties, allowing for further mobilization of state resources to assist.

“It’s absolutely massive,” Abbott said after touring the destruction.

President Obama told reporters that he spoke with Abbott about the flooding, and pledged federal assistance for rescue and recovery.

On Monday, a tornado tore through a Central Texas town, destroying four homes and leaving at least one person dead. Milam County Judge Dave Barkemeyer said the storm hit a subdivision about 60 miles northeast of Austin.

Search-and-rescue teams resumed the hunt for 13 people missing in Wimberley, including eight people in a vacation house torn from its foundation by a wall of water rushing down the Blanco River. Family members said the group had come from Corpus Christi for Memorial Day weekend.

“I think recognizing with what’s happening with the weather, we all know and we have accepted that they’re gone,” said Julie Shields, whose sister is still missing after the flooding.

Shields said her sister, Laura McComb, and her two children, 6-year-old Andrew and 4-year-old Leighton, are among those missing.

“My sister and I had been texting and talking throughout the night and she had told me around 11:00 that water had started coming in,” Shields said.

But Shields said her sister didn’t realize how bad it would get until too late.

“1:00 in the morning she called me she said ‘I’m in a house. I’m floating down the river. Tell mom and dad, ‘I love you,’ and pray,'” Shields said.

Soon after, the house slammed into a bridge abutment.

Crews rescued Laura’s husband, Jonathan, from the river bank. He’s recovering in a San Antonio hospital with a broken sternum, broken rib and a collapsed lung.

More flooding on beechnut. Now we're following a tow truck to a new location #khou11 pic.twitter.com/CO9P84Jp3I

— Josh Chapin (@JoshChapinABC11) May 26, 2015

“He is absolutely devastated. He did everything he possibly could to save them,” Shields said. “What happened was the house slammed into a bridge and the house broke in two and they had all been in the house together holding hands but when the house hit the bridge and it separated, he got separated from everyone else.”

The severe weather is also causing concern in Willis, Texas, where the Lewis Creek Dam is reportedly growing weaker as the flood waters continue to rise. Some residents near the dam just moved back into their homes after a mandatory evacuation was lifted Sunday night. Officials say the Lewis Creek Dam is holding, as it is reinforced with 8,000 tons of limestone and 7,500 sandbags.

More severe storms are forecast to hit Oklahoma and Texas, bringing with them more rain, hail and tornadoes.

Nine people have now been confirmed killed in the deadly storms in Texas, while two more died in Oklahoma.

A 29-year-old Fort Worth kayaker drowned Saturday when he entered a restricted stretch of the Trinity River as water was being released from the main dam for Eagle Mountain Lake.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a disaster emergency as a result of tornadoes, severe storms and flooding.

The Mexican city of Ciudad Acuna was devastated by a twister at daybreak Monday.

Officials in Mexico said 13 people, including three infants, were killed in the tornado, which destroyed 800 homes and damaged 4,000 others, the Associated Press reported. The city, population 125,000, is across the border from Del Rio, Texas.

Contributing: William Cummings and David Jackson, USA TODAY; Shannon Murray,KVUE-TV, Austin; KHOU-TV, Houston; the Associated Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2015/05/26/extreme-weather-texas-oklahoma/27945961/