Amid heavy rains, ’20-foot wall of water’ roars downriver near Uvalde

UVALDE — Heavy rainfall brought a second day of flooding west of San Antonio on Wednesday, sending rivers and creeks over their banks and leading to dozens of people being rescued from rising water in Uvalde County and Kendall County.

Uvalde officials ordered mandatory evacuations along the Leona River on Wednesday afternoon, saying a 20-foot-wall of water was expected to make its way downstream and into town.

City officials disputed reports that the Leona Dam on the river in the northern part of the county had given way, but warned residents that the river’s water level could rise by 15 feet in a short amount of time.

«The dam is intact,» the city said in a written statement. «However, the river gauge, located upstream on the Leona River, above Uvalde, is reporting a 20 ft wall of water; it is expected to rise another 15 ft. If you live along the Leona River, we ask that you get to higher ground.»

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, a 2-mile stretch of Main Street in Uvalde was closed due to flooding. 

Uvalde Police Department spokesperson Juli Alvarado said law enforcement officers went door-to-door along the river telling people to leave; she said people outside city limits along the river had already been notified.

Crews in Uvalde County rescued 24 people from rising water on Tuesday and another 25 were rescued overnight and into Wednesday morning, Alvarado said. Three people were rescued from tractor-trailer rigs on Texas 55; they were uninjured and taken to a shelter in Uvalde, Alvarado said.

More water rescues took place throughout the day in the northern part of the county, County Commissioner Roy Kothmann said.  On Wednesday morning, crews in a helicopter were dropping people off along U.S. 83 near County Road 428. The road leads to the Deer Valley area, which was hard hit by flooding.

There have been no deaths or injuries from the flooding and no one is currently missing, Alvarado said.

In Boerne, the National Weather Service issued a flood emergency as flooding on Cibolo Creek closed roads, cut off some neighborhoods and led to about 20 water rescues, city officials say. No flood-related injuries were reported, city spokesman Chris Shadrock said.

A number of streets and highways remained closed throughout Uvalde County due to rising water, especially in areas north of Uvalde, closer to Concan and Utopia. Camp La Jita, a Girl Scout summer camp on the Sabinal River near Utopia, was evacuated Tuesday afternoon ahead of potential flooding. The campers were taken by bus to San Antonio.

Both Uvalde and Sabinal opened shelters for people displaced by the flooding. 

The Nueces, Frio and Sabinal rivers all were projected to reach major flood stage by Wednesday evening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

In Uvalde, the Leona River had risen out of its banks and over Nopal Street on Wednesday morning. It flooded the Rotary Amphitheater, which is along the river next to the Willie de Leon Civic Center. After receding, the water rose again in the afternoon.

Precinct 4 Constable John Meyer and local attorney John Dodson stood watching the Leona River below Dodson’s law office on Nopal Street.

On Tuesday, the river had climbed about halfway up Dodson’s parking lot, tearing up pavement and sweeping away rail ties along the driveway.

“It was this deep and moving fast,” Dodson said, holding his hand up near his head.

The heavy flow was far from the norm, as “364 days a year, the Leona is bone dry,” Meyer said.

But on Wednesday morning it was running fast below U.S. 90 — and by his estimation, it was picking up speed, seemingly flowing faster than just an hour before, he said.

A U.S. Geological Survey gauge north of the city showed the Leona River had shot up from about 6 feet at 4 a.m. to more than 16 feet four hours later. It was flowing at more than 3,000 cubic feet per second, up from less than 40 cfs before dawn.

Other creeks in and around the city have also flooded, Meyer said, including Indian and Montell creeks, which are both over roads and impassable.

While there was a lull in the rain on Wednesday morning, officials are bracing for more to come, said state Rep. Don McLaughlin, R-Uvalde.

«The rain’s going to come back with a vengeance again,» he said. «The rivers and creeks are going to be coming up, and they’re going to be coming up with a vengeance.»

In Sabinal, a town of 1,300 people about 20 miles east of Uvalde, some streets were flooded and blocked off and rain continued to fall shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday, but there was no indication rising water had made its way into buildings. Sabinal police and fire crews have conducted two water rescues this morning, Mayor Erik Gomez said in a social media post.

While no mandatory evacuations are currently in place in Uvalde County, officials were asking people in some areas to leave, or prepare to do so.

«Rain predictions in the northern part of the county will impact the rivers, creeks, and sloughs that flow through our town,» the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

«First-responders are addressing areas in our city and in the county that are already being affected by floodwater,» the agency said. «We are asking residents that live by those areas likely to be affected to evacuate, voluntarily, at this time.»\

The sheriff’s office did not specify where those areas are, and in a similar post, neither did the Uvalde Police Department, though they did reference people living «around and near the Leona River.»

Gomez, the mayor in Sabinal, also asked residents to be ready to leave homes on or near River Street, River Street Alley, Northwest Front Street, First Street, as well as other low-lying and flood-prone areas.

People in those areas are «strongly encouraged to prepare for the possibility of a voluntary evacuation should conditions continue to worsen,» Gomez said

In the past 24 hours, up to 12 to 16 inches of rain has fallen in some areas of Uvalde and western Medina counties, according to the National Weather Service. 

Rain was falling on Wednesday afternoon and was expected to continue into the night. There is a high risk of flooding rain along the U.S. 90 corridor, forecasters said. 

The rainfall has concentrated heavily over the Frio and Sabinal rivers, which flow through Uvalde County.

The Frio River was already nearing minor flood stage as of 11 a.m., and is expected to continue rising. Major flood stage on the river is 15 feet; the river is expected to crest at 17.5 feet by 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to NOAA.

Just to the east of the Frio River, the Sabinal River had reached a height of 18 feet as of 11 a.m. Wednesday. That is moderate flood stage, but the river is expected to rise by more than 15 feet, reaching a crest of 33.4 feet by 6 p.m., according to NOAA. That’s more than 9 feet above major flood stage.

The Nueces River, southwest of Uvalde, is expected to reach major flood stage by 7 p.m. Wednesday. The river could rise by an another 7 feet overnight, reaching a crest of 24.3 feet between midnight and 3 a.m. That would be the second-highest crest ever recorded for this portion of the river.

Lacey Herrmann and a handful of family members stood on the Texas 127 bridge over the Frio River shortly after noon on Wednesday, watching the murky brown water rushing past below.

Normally, the river here downstream of Garner State Park is shallow enough to easily walk across — so shallow that her family typically doesn’t tube there on their annual summer visits, dubbed the “Fuhrken Family Frio Trip.»

The tradition dates back to 1972, when her grandparents started coming to the Frio, Herrmann said. About 40 family members gathered in Uvalde County this week for this year’s edition of the trip, staying at Zubers River Camp, across the Frio from the state park.

Herrmann said they knew rain was in the forecast before the trip, although her aunt chimed to add they didn’t know it would rain «this much.»

They’d been told it would take a 20 to 25 foot rise in the Frio for water to reach their cabins, she said, so the family felt safe, but she still got up frequently throughout the night to peer outside with a flashlight and check.

The campground’s owner, Clint Zuber, talked to all the guests yesterday about what could happen and where to go if they needed to seek higher ground, Herrmann said.

«We knew what to expect,» she said.

In Medina County, officials issued an evacuation order Wednesday for people who live near Seco Creek due to rapidly rising water levels.

The county was working to set up an evacuation center, the Medina County Sheriff’s Office and the Medina County Office of Emergency Management said. 

Sensors along Seco Creek detected a two-foot surge in the water level between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., said Mark Chadwick, the county’s fire marshal.

While county officials were not immediately aware of any buildings being flooded, they feared the surge would sweep through inhabited area when it passed downstream, he said. They were most concerned about the town of D’Hanis, west of Hondo, he said.

«That’s a lot of water,» he said of the two-foot surge. «There’s not any impacts yet, however history says that when it’s like this, we have to be very careful. We’re always going to hedge on the side of protecting the residents.»

An emergency shelter has been established in Hondo, at the Medina County Fair Hall, for residents of D’Hanis who need to evacuate.

On Wednesday, crews conducted two rescues for motorists who were swept off the road at low-water crossings, the county said. 

A flash flood warning was in place much of Wednesday for New Braunfels, Canyon Lake and Timberwood Park.

More than 20 stretches of road in Comal County were closed Wednesday due to flooding, many of them near Kelly Creek and Cibolo Creek, including Ammann Road at FM 3351 and Georg Oaks, according to the county’s website.

Blanco Road was closed in several places, including at its crossings with Bartels Road and Scholz Road. Obst Road was closed at its crossings with Spect Road, Leroy Scheel Road and Bulverde Road.

A stretch of Seguin Avenue between downtown New Braunfels and Interstate 35 was closed, as well as a small part of the I-35 business loop running directly north of the highway.

New Braunfels also said it was closing the Comal River to recreation, citing the flash flood warning.

“Current conditions on the Comal River include poor water clarity, fast-moving water, and other hazardous conditions that make recreation unsafe,” the city said.

Kerrville police urged residents not to drive around barricades that closed several flooded roads in town. Travel on several Kerr County roads remains hazardous, according to a Wednesday morning social media post from the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office.

Kerrville is keeping many of its riverside parks closed and is delaying a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Guadalupe Park, which was damaged in last July’s floods.

Dozens of roads were closed across Bandera County on Wednesday, according to the Bandera County Sheriff’s Office. RV parks along the Medina River were evacuated, according to county spokesperson Laurie Blanchard.

While Hays County was also under a flash flood warning on Wednesday, officials in San Marcos were seeing little disruption from the weather, other “a few traffic accidents,” city spokesperson Russell Wilde said.

Staff writers Richard Webner, Ricardo Delgado and Anthony Franze contributed to this report.