Fatal flooding in Texas as the Guadalupe River swells from heavy rain
Several people have died after massive flooding was overwhelmed by the overwhelmed Guadalupe River in Carville, Texas.
Multiple deaths have been confirmed, and desperate water rescue and searches are ongoing on Friday, and it was caused by heavy rain that overwhelmed the Guadalupe River as a “devastating” flood emergency that unfolded in Texas on July 4th.
Authorities have not said how many people were killed and were still trying to identify the deaths in Kerr County. Dozens of rapid water rescues had already been made by the late morning, and rescue operations were still underway in the afternoon in Kerrville, a 25,000-person city about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Local news outlets reported that an extensive search has been launched to find missing people, including children in a riverside summer camp.
“The immediate priority is to save lives,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a social media post.
Abbott said it is “surged all available resources” to respond to flooding in the Kerr County area, including the Water Rescue Team, Shelter Center, the National Guard and the state Public Safety Agency.
“It was a very devastating and fatal flood,” Carr County Judge Rob Kelly said at a press conference that the sirens rang out in the background. “If you look outside the front door and see the Guadalupe running, it awakens you, please tell me.”
Authorities are still working to identify most of the dead, Kelly said.
“This came at night when people were sleeping in bed,” said Carville Mayor Joe Herring Jr., visibly emotional. “Pray for our community.”
“This is a devastating flood event in Kerr County. We can confirm the deaths, but we will not release any further information until we are notified of a close relative,” the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office said. “The whole county is a very lively scene.”
Residents were urged to evacuate in place to avoid attempting to travel. According to the Sheriff’s Office, those along the streams, streams and Guadalupe Rivers should seek higher ground.
The National Weather Service in Austin and San Antonio said the area was under flash flood warnings, with 5-11 inches of rain falling by around 9am. Another inch or two could fall before the rain threat dissipates later that day, the weather department said.
“This is a very dangerous and life-threatening flood event along the Guadalupe River! You’ll be moving to the highlands!” weather services there said.
Early in the morning, the Guadalupe River in Hunt, West Carr County, had already reached its second-highest level at over 29 feet, surpassing the level of the 1987 Guadalupe River flooding at that location, Austin and San Antonio Weather Services said. The 1987 flood killed 10 teenagers on July 17th in a church camp bus and van near Comfort, Texas.
In San Angelo, Texas, about 150 miles from Carville in the central part of the state, weather services shared photos of flooded intersections with water reaching road sign levels. San Angelo’s Weather Services Office said it calls the conditions “life-threatening” following reports of flooded roads and homes in Tom Greene County.
Western Texas will see flooding over the weekend, the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Center said on the afternoon of July 4th.
Some Texas weather systems “have dropped several inches of rainfall across the region from Thursday night and this afternoon,” the forecasting center said. “Saturated soil and river flooding make the area more sensitive to increased rainfall.”
“The forecast calls for local heavy rain to continue tomorrow (Saturday, July 5th).” The flood clock was in effect until the end of the 1st on July 4th for most of the region.
The San Antonio Weather Service stated, “Pockets of heavy rain are still possible, leading to lowlands/river/rivulets and low-water flooding. Additional rainfall of 1-3 inches is possible across the flood clock area.
The National Weather Service placed Kerr and other counties in areas under flood monitoring prior to the July 3 flood, but Kelly said the extent of the flooding was surprising.
“No one knew there was this kind of flooding coming,” he said. He added that Kerr County does not have a warning system that could alert residents on the night of July 3rd.
“We deal with floods regularly,” he said. “There was no reason to believe this would be something like what happened here.”
Officials in Comfort, Texas, issued forced evacuations to residents along the river, which are rapidly rising. According to a post from around 8am local time.
“We regret to inform everyone that the comfortable flooding situation has not improved,” the Comfortable Volunteer Fire Department said in an update at 11am.
Residents were instructed to bring in necessary documents, medicines, clothes and important valuables when they fled to the highlands.
Carville police and firefighters were set up at shelter at the local Walmart, at the Unification Center and church, to help residents evacuate.
Mayor Haring, Kerrville, issued a disaster declaration on the morning of July 4th. In Kell County, deaths and missing people have been reported with water rescues underway, the city of Carville said.
“Search and recovery efforts are ongoing and will increase as the water recedes,” the city said.
The city said it had cancelled its July 4th celebration. “Fourth in the river.”
Kelly said in the morning that authorities could not confirm whether the camper van at the All Girls Christian Summer Camp on a hunt along the Guadalupe River was described.
There were several camps in the area that were affected, but Kelly said he had no details about them and advised his concerned parents to reach out to the camp for more information.
(This story has been updated to include a video.)
