Texas flash-flood threat grows as more storms soak the state

Pockets of another 10 to 15 inches of rain were possible in the highest-risk corridor, and the National Weather Service said considerable to locally catastrophic impacts were likely through Thursday evening as repeated bands of heavy rain turned parts of Central Texas into a dangerous flash-flood setup. Widespread totals of 2 to 6 inches remained on the table across the Flood Watch area.

The rain was falling on ground already soaked by earlier storms. The weather service said rain rates could reach 2 to 4 inches an hour, enough to overwhelm drainage systems, flood roads in minutes and send water surging into creeks and rivers before drivers or residents had time to react. The weather service said in some locations this week’s event could deliver more than half of a normal year’s rainfall.

The watch covered a broad swath of Texas, including the Hill Country, the Rio Grande Plains, the western Hill Country, the southern Edwards Plateau, and parts of Medina County and Bexar County. The National Weather Service kept the warning in place into Thursday evening as storm bands continued to train over the same already drenched ground, and the Nueces and Frio rivers and nearby creeks could overflow.

The rain was already producing rescues. The highest rainfall totals had reached up to 16 inches in Uvalde County, where officials had tallied 25 rescues by Wednesday morning. In Boerne, officials urged voluntary evacuation in some areas to keep people from being marooned by rising water, and the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for the city. Kerr County officials were also in contact with summer camps and retreat centers near rising rivers. Kerr County’s catastrophic flooding last year killed more than 100 people.

State and local responders, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, were dealing with road closures and water rescues as the rain continued.