UVALDE, Texas (AP) 鈥� Catastrophic flooding in Texas after forced authorities to rescue dozens of people from rising waters before sunrise Thursday while many more fled to higher ground across a region still recovering from devastating floods just a year ago.
The National Weather Service in San Antonio said a 鈥渓arge and deadly flood wave鈥� was barreling down the same river last summer when two dozen children and counselors were killed at .
Forecasters urgently warned 鈥淢ove to higher ground now!鈥� as rivers rose hour by hour, turning them into fast-moving seas of white water.
There was no immediate word of any deaths or injuries from the flooding. Several tornado warnings were also issued. The Texas over the July Fourth holiday last year killed more than 100 people.
The storms and flooding threatened multiple counties close to the border with Mexico and in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio. City officials in Kerrville urged people to shelter at the highest levels of their homes.
Images along a creek in Kerr County showed propane tanks that had been pushed onto a bridge and a mess of tangled trees.
Uvalde residents isolated by floodwaters
Floodwaters overran the city of Uvalde overnight, cutting off outside access.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way into the city at this point in time. Rescues have been happening overnight,鈥� said Juli Alvarado, a spokesperson for Uvalde police. Multiple people trapped in vehicles were being rescued, she said.
鈥淭he good thing is they鈥檙e communicating with our emergency dispatch center and we鈥檙e getting crews to them quickly,鈥� she said.
Uvalde officials were deploying boats for rescue operations and planned to fly helicopters after daybreak, Alvarado said. Phones buzzed with warnings throughout the night, warning of flash flooding in the morning.
Texas Game Wardens rescued more than 40 people, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson.
Another test for the Texas Hill Country after the Camp Mystic disaster
The weather service said 10 to 20 inches of rain (25 to 50 centimeters) had fallen in the past two days, with 8 inches (20 centimeters) in just two hours early Thursday.
The deluge dumped nearly a foot of rain in some counties and put people in multiple counties under flood watches.
Some of the flood watches were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.
Flooding could reach last year’s deadly high
The floodwaters were expected to reach a crest similar to last year’s flood, the weather service said.
Gauges in some spots along the Guadalupe River showed it rose by more than 30 feet (9 meters) in a matter of hours overnight Thursday.
One gauge outside of Kerrville showed the river had risen 32 feet (9.7 meters) in four hours.
Close to Camp Mystic, , the Guadalupe River near Hunt reached about 20.5 feet (6.3 meters), according to a U.S. Geological Survey gauge, which is just under the level expected to inundate structures and roads.
Families rush to get to higher ground
By Wednesday, Uvalde police had ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts, with first responders notifying people affected directly. Others were asked to stay vigilant in case more evacuations are needed.
Some people walked out of their homes into the street to see the water growing closer every hour, their faces worried. People living along the Leona River scrambled to pack up their cars and head out, although many did not yet know where they should go. One man threw two kayaks into his truck bed, just in case.
Lightning flashed as clouds darkened, and brown water created large rapids in the typically calm river, which was pushing up against the town鈥檚 high bridge and into neighborhoods by Wednesday afternoon.
The Texas flood watches affect 6 million people
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.
As of late Wednesday, six million Texas residents in 57 counties were under a National Weather Service flood watch. Watches for more than half of those counties were to continue into Friday evening.
Some of the highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County, which normally gets about 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain a year, according to the Uvalde County Extension Office.
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Stengle reported from Dallas. Associated Press writers Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
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