Officials ordered volunteer crews to temporarily suspend search operations near the river in Kerr County, Texas, on Monday as the area hit hardest by catastrophic flash flooding on July 4 faced a renewed flood threat. Search and recovery efforts were initially paused early Sunday and later resumed, although officials continued to warn of ongoing flooding threats.
“Due to the incoming threatening weather, all volunteers should vacate the river area, and MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND for their safety,” said the city of Kerrville in a social media post. “Only teams working under the direction of Kerr County Emergency Operations Center Unified Command are permitted in the response zone.”
On Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that new rescue operations were underway about 150 miles east in Lampasas, San Saba and Schleicher Counties, with “dozens” rescued from Lampasas as a serious threat began to unfold along the San Saba River, another area known to flood. Rains from this weekend — on top of the already soaked ground — were forecast to raise that river above 30 feet throughout the day on Monday, county officials said. The river was forecast to rise faster and higher than it did on July 4.
Authorities also monitored rising water in Kerrville, the city hit hardest by the devastating July 4 storms that caused the Guadalupe River to overflow.
At least 132 people were killed in the July 4 flooding — at least 106 of them in Kerr County, including dozens of children at a riverside summer camp called Camp Mystic. Officials in Texas’ rural, flood-prone Hill Country have said about 160 people in the area remain missing.
Police in Kerrville announced Sunday that ground searches for flooding victims had been paused before 8 a.m. local time due to “flood danger.” Recovery teams in western Kerr County were able to resume operations that afternoon, but the National Weather Service reissued a flood warning for the Guadalupe at Hunt, which was the site of particularly disastrous flooding on July 4 as the river swelled more than 20 feet in less than an hour. It was not set to expire until after 9 p.m. Monday, as “numerous” roads and bridges had already flooded, the Weather Service said.
Forecasters issued an additional flash flood warning for pockets of Central Texas on Monday, including Kerr County, where rain gauges showed 4 to 7 inches had fallen with another 2 inches expected, according to local law enforcement. In a bulletin echoing its earlier guidance, the Austin-San Antonio branch of the National Weather Service urged people to be aware of their locations “relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains.” The flash flood warning was set to expire in the early afternoon, although previous ones kept being extended.
A flood watch remained in effect for most of Texas Hill Country through 9 p.m. Monday. The National Weather Service issues a watch when flooding is possible, and a warning when flooding is imminent.
Kerrville Police had warned early Monday morning that water levels in the river at Hunt, already at nearly 8.5 feet by 6:30 a.m., were expected to rise 6 more feet in the coming hours, which would be considered a “moderate flood stage.” They have not provided an update since then with details about how exactly the flooding progressed.
Officials emphasized that people should exercise serious caution around “low water crossings,” which are small bridges built close to the surface of the Guadalupe and San Saba Rivers.
Kerr County officials said last week that the crossings in their area easily flood, as they did on the morning of July 4, trapping people on small “islands” of dry land and making it very difficult for emergency responders to reach them.
The subsequent search for those missing among the debris has been massive. Volunteers, drones and search dogs joined the operation as crews from local, state and federal agencies probed on the ground, through the water and overhead in the air in hopes of uncovering anyone still lost.
Difficult weather and harsh terrain have intermittently complicated their efforts, officials said. In addition to interrupting ground searches, this latest bout of flooding prompted Kerr County to temporarily close a drive-through relief center.
On Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott again expanded his federal disaster declaration to include more counties affected by the flooding.
contributed to this report.
