On Thursday (July 16), a catastrophic flash flood struck the state of Texas in the United States. An extreme rainfall event pouring 20 centimeters of rain in just two hours led to rivers in the area wildly overflowing during the night. A large number of rescue personnel were urgently dispatched to the disaster-stricken area to carry out life-saving operations, with one person tragically confirmed dead.
According to the National Weather Service in the United States, after days of heavy rain, parts of Texas received rainfall of 25 to 50 centimeters over the past two days, with an astounding 20 centimeters of rain falling in just two hours on Thursday morning.
Such terrifying rainfall triggered devastating flash floods in the Texas Hill Country region. Due to the unique limestone terrain in the area with only thin soil cover, the rainwater could not be absorbed and instead turned into torrents rushing into the rivers.
Monitoring data showed that the water level in parts of the Guadalupe River surged over 9 meters within a few hours overnight. Additionally, an observation station on the outskirts of Kerrville recorded a staggering 32 feet (about 9.7 meters) rapid rise in river water within just 4 hours.
The Weather Service issued the most severe warning: “Deadly flood crests are sweeping down, move to higher ground immediately!” Last year on July 4th, the same area suffered a catastrophic flood disaster claiming at least 137 lives.
Faced with the lethal threat of rising waters, over 1,300 rescue personnel have been mobilized across Texas, with more than 800 rescue vehicles, 75 rescue boats, and 20 helicopters deployed for a comprehensive search and rescue operation. Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed on Thursday that the flood has already resulted in “1 fatality,” while the rescue teams have successfully saved over 70 individuals. He emphasized: “Our top priority is saving lives.”
In a trailer park near the Guadalupe River in Comfort, the fire department’s air raid siren blared late at night. Manager Duke Earwood stated that about 200 residents within the park quickly mobilized their vehicles overnight to move the trailers to higher ground, but some vehicles that couldn’t be moved in time had water rapidly submerging past their hoods.
Earwood revealed that water depth markers in the park indicated that the current flooding level is on par with the highest recorded during last July’s catastrophic flood. He remarked, “This feels all too familiar, and it’s happening too quickly, too soon.”
Josiah Rodriguez, a resident of Kerrville, was awakened around 2 a.m. by the torrential rain outside his window on Thursday. He then risked driving around several flooded areas to assist relatives in emergency evacuations.
He told the Associated Press, “Experiencing two major floods within a year is simply insane. There was absolutely no warning last year; things happened overnight, catching everyone off guard. This year is much better, authorities have activated more alerts and taken more safety measures.”
Fortunately, residents had been receiving flash flood alerts on their phones throughout Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
In Uvalde, the typically drought-stricken Leona River suddenly filled up due to the heavy rain. The floods raged throughout the night, completely cutting off all land routes to the city from the outside world.
“People can hardly move at all now; all the streets are blocked off,” said resident Carmen Rodriguez as she watched the waters gradually engulfing the community while listening to the helicopters circling loudly overhead.
Uvalde Police spokesperson Juli Alvarado stated that rescue teams were sent out overnight with rescue boats to save several residents trapped on rooftops or inside vehicles. Texas Game Wardens in the area used specialized equipment to successfully rescue over forty individuals and safely evacuate more than a dozen stranded people.
As of Thursday, 57 counties across Texas, with over 6 million residents in total, are still under flood alert coverage, with some alerts expected to persist until late Friday evening.