Posted: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 12:44 PM - 8,026 Readers
By: Tony Plohetski and Claudia Grisales
The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine have dumped nearly 15 inches of rain over parts of Central Texas, causing significant flooding in some areas and leading to rescues from cars and homes overnight.
A woman who was driving a black Lexus SUV is missing after apparently being swept away by water near RM 2222 and Bull Creek, Assistant Austin Fire Chief Harry Evans said. Crews were called to that scene between midnight and 1 a.m. and rescued another woman who also tried to get through the crossing, an Austin fire official said.
At 9 a.m., authorities said that they have recovered two cars near the County Line barbecue restaurant nearby that had been swept away by water — the black Lexus SUV and a black two-door Mercedes. Officials said the woman has not been located and they do not know her identity.
Evans said firefighters performed about a dozen water rescues overnight from homes and cars. Several homes near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and in Round Rock near Lake Creek and Brushy Creek were evacuated with about a foot of water inside, Evans and a spokesman for the City of Round Rock said.
Crews for the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services STAR Flight helicopters have also conducted eight rescue missions since last night’s storms, said Roger Wade, spokesman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
The overnight rains have also forced road closures throughout Central Texas, delayed openings for several area school districts, triggered power outages for thousands of area residents, canceled Capital Metro Metrorail service and kept rescue crews busy, according to Austin area emergency and utility personnel.
“It’s just been a real busy night for our crews,” said Austin Fire Lt. Marc Saenz. “Routine calls and the flood-related calls are adding to the volume.”
In Round Rock, 16 homes near Lake Creek and Brushy Creek were evacuated because of flooding, and 18 residents were placed in a nearby shelter, said Will Hampton, a spokesman for the city.
Area utilities have also reported more than 3,000 residents have seen storm-related power outages overnight.
More rain is on the way today, the National Weather Service said. Central Texas is under a flash flood warning has been extended until 1:45 p.m., and a flash flood watch continues until 6 p.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Lenz said. The region could get 2 to 4 inches of rain today, with some isolated areas seeing as much as 6 inches, he said.
Emergency personnel have said that creeks in the area are full and could leave their banks with additional rainfall.
“We had an excessive amount of rainfall overnight,” said LCRA meteorologist Bob Rose. “This is very serious to get that much of rain, the majority of which fell in about a six-hour period of time.”
Lenz said the heavy overnight rains were triggered by a rain bands that continued developing over Central Texas.
Floodgates along Tom Miller Dam were opened at about 6 a.m., officials said.
Rose said the highest totals of rain fell between Mansfield Dam and Georgetown, which received up to 14 inches in some places. About 11 inches fell in Jollyville, he said.
Meanwhile, numerous streets in the City of Austin, including Lamar Boulevard between Ninth and 12th streets, and in Williamson County have been closed.
Emergency crews began searching for the missing woman on 2222 after she passed a barricade, a police cruiser and a contractor’s truck and plunged into the water, said Lloyd Chance an engineer with the Texas Department of Transportation.
The officer pursued the woman to try to stop her, but her SUV was picked up by the water and rolled over a concrete traffic barrier. It then flipped over several times as it was swept downstream. The water was between 6 to 15 feet high when the woman drove into it.
She is described as a white female between 40 and 60 years old, he said.
Fire crews suspended the search last night out of concerns for the safety of their crew, Saenz said.
“We had three boats in the water and had to scale down because large debris was floating down the water,” Saenz said. “The city had to pull them back out and leave one boat to monitor.”
A section of eastbound 2222 over the creek collapsed because of the flood waters, Chance said. Crews are trying to patch the road so it can be reopened.
At Bull Creek Park, new restoration efforts were destroyed by the raging water, which uprooted trees, wrapped others around telephone poles and stripped the asphalt off a new parking lot.
“It’s a shame because they did such a good job here,” said Robert James, who lives nearby. Broken pieces of irrigation pipe used for new grass in the area were lying across the park. The new bridge that was built was still in tact, but the dirt had washed out from beneath sidewalks approaching the bridge. Parts of the newly paved Lakewood Drive had also been peeled away by the flood.
The search was just one part of a busy evening for rescue crews. Austin fire crews conducted seven swift-water rescues, 35 flood assists in rising water and eight flood barricades to block low water crossings.
Austin fire was also called to 25 alarm activations as a result of lightning strikes and other emergencies, Saenz said.
“A lot of flood assists,” Saenz said. “It’s not running fast. But it’s in high water.”
Fire crews pulled seven people out of Lady Bird Lake near the hike-and-bike trail at South First Street close to 1:30 a.m., Saenz said.
“I don’t know how they got in the water and we rescued them, seven people,” Saenz said.
There are also reports that cliff rocks have been falling near the Pennybacker Bridge near Loop 360 southbound, Saenz said. People are being warned to stay away from the area, Saenz said.
Officials for utilities have reported thousands of customers have lost power since yesterday afternoon, and some in the Bell County area remain without power now.
Austin Energy said a total of 12,000 customers have seen outages related to the storm since beginning at 2 p.m. yesterday, said spokesman Carlos Cordova.
And most of the outages continued throughout the evening, Cordova said. At 7:30 p.m., 2,500 customers lost power near the 45th Street and Speedway area, he said. Most were resolved within two hours, but another outage at 11 p.m. near McNeil and Parmer lanes triggered an outage for another 4,000 customers, he said. By 1 a.m., most of those outages were addressed, but another major outage left 1,600 customers near Far West and MoPac boulevards without power until 5 a.m., Cordova said. Pedernales Electric Cooperative said it saw a peak of 3,000 customers at 1 p.m. yesterday, with most of those customers restored, according to a spokeswoman for the Johnson City-based utility. By 8 a.m. this morning, about 90 customers remained without power, the spokeswoman said.
At Oncor, the utility saw a peak of 500 customers without power between 2 and 3 a.m., but most were resolved by early Wednesday, spokesman Eddie Ferguson said. About 100 to 125 customers remained without power this morning, but repairs could not be made because crews were blocked by high waters, Ferguson said.
At Harker Heights, near Killeen, about 8,000 Oncor customers were without power because of flooding at a nearby substation, Ferguson said.
“One of our entire electrical substations was under water at 4 a.m., and it tripped the whole substation off,” Ferguson said.
And it’s not clear when repairs can be made, since the water needs to recede before crews can access the station, Ferguson said.
