MAY 25, 2015
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS (AP)
Record rainfall wreaked havoc
across a swath of the Plains and Midwest on Sunday, causing flash floods in
normally dry riverbeds, spawning tornadoes and forcing at least 2,000 people in
Texas from their homes.
Tornadoes struck, severely damaging an apartment complex in
Houston, Texas. A firefighter in Oklahoma was swept to his death while trying
to rescue people from high water and a woman in Tulsa died in a traffic-related
crash. In Texas, a man's body was recovered from a flooded area along the
Blanco River, which rose 26 feet in just one hour and left piles of wreckage 20
feet high, authorities said.
"It looks pretty bad out there," said Hays County
emergency management coordinator Kharley Smith, describing the destruction in
Wimberley, a community that is part of a fast-growing corridor between Austin
and San Antonio. "We do have whole streets with maybe one or two houses
left on them and the rest are just slabs," she said, noting late Sunday
that three people from Wimberley still weren't accounted for.
From 350 to 400 homes were destroyed in Wimberley, many of
them washed away, Smith said. In nearby San Marcos, flooding had damaged about
300 homes, she said.
Authorities also warned people to honor a night-time curfew
and stay away from damaged areas, since more rain was on the way, threatening
more floods with the ground saturated and waterways overflowing.
Rivers rose so fast that whole communities woke up Sunday
surrounded by water. The Blanco crested above 40 feet — more than triple its
flood stage of 13 feet — swamping Interstate 35 and forcing parts of the busy
north-south highway to close. Rescuers used pontoon boats and a helicopter to
pull people out.
Dallas also faced severe flooding from the Trinity River,
which was expected to crest near 40 feet Monday and lap at the foundations of
an industrial park. The Red and Wichita rivers also rose far above flood stage.
Heather Ruiz returned from work early Sunday to ankle-deep
water and a muddy couch inside her home in San Marcos. She wasn't sure what to
do next. "Pick up the pieces and start all over I guess. Salvage what can
be salvaged and replace what needs to be replaced," Ruiz said.
This May is already the wettest on record for several cities
in the southern Plains states, with days still to go and more rain on the way.
So far this year, Oklahoma City has recorded 27.37 inches of rain. Last year
the state's capital got only 4.29 inches.
The reasons include a prolonged warming of Pacific Ocean sea
surface temperatures, which generally results in cooler air, coupled with an
active southern jet stream and plentiful moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, said
Meteorologist Forrest Mitchell at National Weather Service office in Norman,
Oklahoma.
"It looks like the rainfall that we're getting now may
actually officially end the drought," that has gripped the southern Plains
states for years, Mitchell said, noting that moisture now reaches about two
feet below the surface of the soil and many lakes and reservoirs are full.
Wichita Falls was so dry at one point that that it had to
get Texas regulatory approval to recycle and treat its wastewater as drinking
water dried up. By Sunday, the city reached a rainfall record, nearly 14 inches
so far in May.
The storm system pushed northeast into Iowa and Illinois on
Sunday after it moved through parts of Colorado, central and North Texas and
most of Oklahoma. New flash flood watches were issued Sunday for western
Arkansas, Missouri and parts of Kansas, and tornado warnings were issued Sunday
night for parts of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.
About 1,000 people were evacuated from homes in Central
Texas, where rescuers pulled dozens of people from high water overnight.
Tami Mallow, 41, gathered her three cats at a shelter in San
Marcos while her husband put furniture on cinderblocks, and retreated to the
second floor with electronics and other valuables as the floodwaters entered.
"He told me there was 2 inches of mud," Mallow
said. "I don't know what the cleanup process is going to be."
Five San Marcos police cars were washed away and a fire
station was flooded, said Kristi Wyatt, a spokeswoman for San Marcos, which
imposed a 9 p.m. Sunday curfew.
Wyatt said some 1,000 homes were damaged in San Marcos,
Wimberley and elsewhere in Hays County, a fast-growing area between San Antonio
and Austin.
A tornado briefly touched down in Houston, damaging
rooftops, toppling trees, blowing out windows and sending at least two people
to a hospital. The weather service said the tornado struck with winds of about
100 mph at around 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Fire officials said 10 apartments were
heavily damaged and 40 others sustained lesser damage.
Some 50 miles north of the city, about 1,000 people were
preparing to spend the night away from home. The Montgomery County Office of
Emergency Management issued a mandatory evacuation order to more than 400 homes
near an earthen dam at Lake Lewis that was at risk of failing due to the heavy
rains.
Spokeswoman Miranda Hahs said the dam owned by Entergy Texas
is holding, and that it was not clear when residents would be allowed to return
home.
In
northeast Oklahoma, Capt. Jason Farley was helping rescue people at about 11:30
p.m. Saturday when he was swept into a drainage ditch. The body of the 20-year
veteran was recovered an hour and a half later, Claremore Fire Chief Sean
Douglas said. In Tulsa, a woman died in a weather-related traffic crash
Saturday, the state Department of Emergency Management said Sunday.
Oklahoma City set a new monthly rainfall total this weekend
— 18.2 inches through Saturday, beating the previous one of 14.5 in 2013.
Colorado also was water-logged. A mandatory evacuation
notice was issued Sunday for residents in the northeastern city of Sterling,
and several counties planned to ask the governor for a disaster declaration.
Source:associated press.com