Volunteers helping in the recovery efforts in Kerr County, Texas, were told to move to higher ground Monday as more rain threatened to cause additional flooding in a region devastated by a flood over a week ago, officials said.
The statewide death toll in the floods rose to a confirmed 132 Monday, with 101 people still missing, Gov. Greg Abbott said.
Of the confirmed dead, 106 were in Kerr County, including 36 children, after heavy rains flooded the Guadalupe River on July 4.
“At the same time that we’re responding to Kerrville, there have been an abundance of storms in large parts of the state of the state of Texas that have impacted lives, and taken lives,” Abbott said.
Over the weekend, rains returned to the region, inundating already saturated soils and halting search efforts Sunday.
On Monday, the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office told volunteers to go to higher ground as the county was under a flood watch for more rain, between 1 to 3 inches and possible 6 inches in some areas, through Tuesday morning. The Guadalupe River
As much as 6 to 10 inches of rain fell over central Texas over the weekend, leading to more flooding, including along the Llano, Lampasas and San Saba rivers. The Lampasas River, which runs through multiple counties, jumped 30 feet in less than five hours near Kempner, Texas.
The slow-moving thunderstorms will lead to renewed flooding because of the already saturated soils.
Over the weekend, Kerr County issued a code red alert because of an excessive rainfall forecast. Kerr County was under a flash flood warning late Saturday into Sunday, and streets once again turned into rivers of fast-flowing water.
A flood watch was in place for 14 counties, including Kerr County, until 7 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
A flood warning was in effect on the Guadalupe River at Hunt, affecting Kerr County, until 3 a.m. Wednesday, the weather service said.
The river there was 11 feet around 4 p.m. Monday — bankfull stage is around 10 feet — and it was forecast to reach 12.1 feet just after midnight and then fall, the weather service said.
Regarding the Fourth of July weekend floods, more questions are being raised about whether local officials could have done more to warn those in flood zones.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said he’s unsure if he received an alert from the National Weather Service, which was sent around 1 a.m. July 4.
“I actually think I have my weather report stuff turned off if I’m being honest,” Rice told NBC’s Morgan Chesky. “Because one with my family, with first responders, again, I’m in it every single day. My phone stays on 24 hours, 7 days a week. We’re in constant communication with emergency responders.”
“So whether my stuff is on or not is really a moot point because we have teams of experts that can navigate” these types of situations, he continued.
City, county, and state leaders have all promised to conduct a full review of the flood response.
