Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

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Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

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NBC News
Texas Flooding: Death Toll Rises to 24 as Rivers Swell, Searches Continue
by F. BRINLEY BRUTON
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30 Dead After Historic Week of Flooding in Texas and Oklahoma 3:02
Three more bodies have been found in the flooding in Texas, officials said Saturday, bringing the total to 24 in a state walloped this week by heavy rains and powerful storms. Another seven people have died in Oklahoma.

The three latest deaths were announced by officials in Hays County, where a group of people got swept away while in a vacation house last weekend. The identities of the victims were not released, so it was not immediately clear if they were people who were already listed as missing.

The news came as volunteers trudged through banks of the Blanco River looking for the group whose vacation house in Wmberley, a tiny town an hour outside of San Antonio, got swept off its foundation.

Full coverage from NBC Dallas-Fort Worth

A thousand volunteers made up more than 70 search teams looking for the missing.

Among those they are looking for is 6-year-old William Charba and his father, Randy Charba, 42. The body of his wife, Michelle Carey-Charba, was found Wednesday, while officials said Friday that they identified the remains of her father, Ralph Carey, 73. Her mother, Sue Carey, 71, remains missing.

The father in another family, Jonathan McComb, survived the ordeal. His family had joined the Charbas and the Careys for the holiday weekend.

McComb's wife, Laura, 33, and daughter, Leighton, 4, still haven't been found. The body of their 6-year-old son, Andrew, was discovered Wednesday in the river.

Related: Missing 6-Year-Old Among Bodies Found After Texas Flood

Meanwhile, fresh storms swept the rain-soaked Dallas-Fort Worth area Saturday morning, capping off a week of wild weather for the whole region.

Officials and meteorologists were also keeping a close eye on rising river levels in southern Texas as floodwaters moved downstream from the north.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for portions of Central and South Texas. Dallas got about six inches on Saturday morning, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported, before the rain eased off as a cold front moved into the state.

On Friday, more than 200 people were rescued from flooding in Dallas.

Even with a break in the deluge, the danger isn't over: Rivers and lakes around cities such as Houston, San Antonio and Dallas have all swelled.

Meanwhile, the Colorado River at Wharton was expected to crest around midday Saturday, which could flood the area some 60 miles southwest of Houston. While it was worth watching the Colorado, it would most likely not turn into a major flooding event.

"I wouldn't want to be walking around that river and it will be a major nuisance, but it is not an all-time record," Tom Moore, the Weather Channel's coordinating meteorologist, said.

Nevertheless, parts of Wharton were under mandatory evacuation orders Friday night, according to the city's office of emergency management. Parts of four nearby counties situated to the south of the swelling Brazos River were also under mandatory evacuations, according to NBC affiliate KPRC.

The Brazos River had been receding but rose above flood stage again Friday in Parker County, west of Fort Worth. Residents in about 250 homes were asked to evacuate.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for Texas on Friday, making federal funding available to affected individuals in three counties hit by this week's floods.
On the plus side, the drought we've had since 2010 has been wiped away, but at a rather tragic cost.

Personally, I know at least two people who've had their homes flooded, and need serious repairs on their homes.
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Re: Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

Post by Prannon »

The big one that really got everyone's attention happened last Monday. Memorial day.

I volunteered to work that day, and I work in Downtown Austin on the 19th floor of one of the towers there, so I had a rather pristine view as the storms rolled in.

I wouldn't know the technical term for it, but the storms that we saw that day were the result of some sort of slow moving convergence line, where air from the west was actively slamming into moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. The storm cells themselves were moving North, but just kept forming to the South as the air kept slamming together, and the whole line slowly migrated to the east over town.

As a result, we got repeatedly hit by storm after storm and it basically rained all day. We had several tornado warnings during the day, and I actually saw what I thought was a wall cloud passing by at one point. Crazy lightning. By the end of the day, west downtown was completely flooded and crashing through to the Colorado river, and the police had barricades up to keep unwitting drivers (of which I was one :oops: ) from driving right into the raging flash flood water.

Lake Travis rose _7 FEET_ in one day. Go look at that website I linked. It's mind boggling and really illustrates just how bad the drought was and how insane this rain has been.

Also snapped some cool photos of mammatus clouds from my apartment in North Austin that day.

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Re: Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

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I was about a quarter mile from Lake Worth but now the lake makes up about half of my backyard. I wonder if I could sell the place as lakefront property now, I'd have almost enough to retire!
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Re: Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

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The weather/flooding in Texas and Oklahoma has been severe enough to push the usual tornado reporting to the back burner - quite an accomplishment. Also, reports on the Great California Water Shortage and what it's going to do to the Central Valley and by extension the US food supply has likewise disappeared. All the newsies are in hipwaders in Texas.

That said - it's a disaster. And I expect that like most disasters over the past decade or more in the US those affected will not be helped unless they're major corporate entities. The little people with have their homes and possessions destroyed, insurance will balk at payouts, FEMA will throw so many restrictions around getting help as to be useless, and we'll have more people falling into poverty they can't climb out of due to such massive losses.

Gosh, I am utterly cynical these days....

Frankly, the clean up post-tornado is easier and cheaper than post-flood. Stay safe down there.
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Re: Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

Post by SAMAS »

You think Austin was bad? Down in Houston we got everbody's runoff in addition to our own rain.

But my family at least was fortunate. My house got flooded almost to tge ceiling back when TS Allison hit, but due to some agressive countermeasures after Ike, the water didn't even reach the house. Though any street next to a major waterway was part of it the day after.
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Re: Texas and Oklahoma flooding results in 24 dead

Post by Borgholio »

Now would be a wonderful time for a water pipeline from Texas to the Sierras....
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