The Austin-area flood death toll has risen to 13 and 15 people are still reported missing, according to official tallies released Monday.
Seven have now been confirmed dead in Travis County while two fatalities have been confirmed in Williamson County, officials said.
“I cannot overstate my heartbreak and condolences for the families of the lives lost in the Northwestern Travis County floods,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown said in a statement to the American-Statesman on Monday.
Brown encouraged residents affected by the tragedy to call 911 in case of emergency and 1-800-RED-CROSS for additional resources. Emergency services in Travis County conducted around 50 rescues over the weekend, according to Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz.
Six of the Travis deaths occurred in the northwestern area of the county, while one was a weather-related traffic death in South Austin, according to Travis spokesperson Hector Nieto.
Damage along Big Sandy Creek
Areas of northwestern Travis County that had been pummeled by floodwaters from Big Sandy Creek over the weekend were bustling Monday with volunteers and residents organizing support for those who had been affected.
Volunteers brought food and bottled water to residents, some of whom didn’t have running water in their homes. Kaleena Schumaker told the American-Statesman that watching the community along Big Sandy Drive come together has been amazing.
Schumaker said she was sleeping when her daughter called her about 1:50 a.m. Saturday to tell her about the flooding. Schumaker lives with her boyfriend in a trailer home on her mother’s property, where Schumaker’s daughter and grandchildren also live.
Schumaker said she rushed through the door of the trailer to save the family’s goats. In hindsight, she realized that probably was a bad idea. By the time she reached their pen, the water had risen from her calves to her hips.
“I got stuck kind of,” Schumaker said.
She had to turn around, leaving the goats.
The family, four adults and seven children, escaped to higher ground along with two cats and nine kittens. The goats floated away.
Now, trying to figure out where to start with recovery is overwhelming. They don’t have running water. The air conditioning unit was flooded. Her mother’s home also doesn’t have flood insurance.
“Our bills are gone, our papers are gone,” Schumaker said.
Along Big Sandy Drive, officials warned residents to cross the creek at their own risk. Because they couldn’t drive a car across, Robin Bates and her daughters carted out belongings from Bates’ home in wagons and wheelbarrows.
Bates and her daughter, Wren, lived in a home just over the bridge and had evacuated at 2 a.m. to a neighbor’s house after water began pouring into their home. They’d returned an hour later when the Big Sandy Creek’s waters had receded and found another home slammed into their own.
The family managed to save some personal documents and home goods. But many mementos of Robin’s husband, who died in January, are missing.
“All of his inherited tools, toolbox, the toolbox he used since he was like 20, the toolbox he gave to me, it’s gone,” Wren said. “We found the toolbox. It’s just buried and it’s heavy and it’s in a lot of mud. Even if we could lift it, I don’t think we could carry it out.”
Burnet County
In Burnet County, Sheriff Calvin Boyd confirmed that four people have died, while two remain missing.
Among the missing is a Marble Falls volunteer firefighter, whose car and personal belongings were recovered, as well as the vehicle of the second missing person.
Amid the devastation, emergency services carried out 62 rescues.
“These men and women are out here working hard, trying to save some lives, and they did,” Boyd said. “We saved a lot of lives through this process.”
Boyd also confirmed a body recovered earlier Monday was that of a 17-year-old girl. Her mother told Fox 7 Austin on Sunday that the family was leaving for a trip when she drove over a bridge that collapsed into Cow Creek. While the woman, two of her daughters, her son and their child’s friend were able to make it to shore, the 17-year-old was not.
Much of the Central Texas region remains under a flood watch until 7 p.m. Monday.
In a Sunday afternoon news briefing, Gov. Greg Abbott warned Central Texans that more potential flash floods could hit low-lying regions and urged residents to “turn around, don’t drown” in heavy rain.
RV park near Georgetown ‘swamped’
Mobile homes were still washed on top of each other as cleanup efforts at the Shady River RV Resort Park east of Georgetown continued Monday. Trucks were hauling away damaged homes and volunteers were picking up trash and handing out water. Cars with smashed windshields and clumps of smashed bicycles were strewn around the muddy land after the South Fork of the San Gabriel River washed over its banks on Saturday morning.
Aida Kienitz and Butch Kienitz had their RV parked the farthest from river that they could.
“I had hope that the RV might be spared but it’s devastated,” Butch Kienitz said. “It got swamped.”
Cole Boggan was in his trailer when his wife called about 7:20 a.m. Saturday, worried about the rising water. Boggan said he grabbed the couple’s cat, a basket of clothes and some phone chargers and drove away.
When he and his wife, Abby, returned on Saturday night, they found their RV flipped on its side with another RV on top of it. The water had receded from this area of the park, so they began trying to collect any of their items that had been washed out of the home. During this effort, he noticed a man walking away with a panel for the couple’s satellite TV.
“I yelled at him and chased him, and he dropped it,” Boggan said.
When the couple’s trailer was finally turned upright, they discovered mud all the way up to their ceiling.
“It’s a disaster,” Boggan said.
He and his wife are both college students and had taken out a $10,000 loan on the trailer. Boggan said their insurance will cover about half of that figure.
Kendall County and beyond
Farther west, Kendall County Emergency Management Coordinator Brady Constantine said 6 people are confirmed dead in the county in the aftermath of the flooding. There are no confirmed Kendall County residents missing.
The Boerne Fire Department made 8 rescues over the weekend.
“This flood tested us, but it also reminded us of who we are. We still have work to do, but I have no doubt that we will move forward together and stronger,” Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk said.
Tom Green County reported one death.
The vast majority of the damage hit Kerr County, where the death toll had risen to 75 as of Monday morning, officials said in a news conference. By midafternoon, that number had climbed to 84, including 56 adults and 28 children, according to a post by the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office.
The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office recovered the first victim, 22-year-old Kaitlyn Swallow, on Saturday evening. The Liberty Hill Fire department recovered the second victim late Sunday night. There is still a third person missing, with reports of a potential fourth missing individual, officials said.
Williamson County Sheriff Matthew Lindemann said at a Monday morning news briefing the county has about 100 people dedicated to the search effort “up and down the San Gabriel River, and we will continue those operations until they’re complete.”
As the search for victims continues, county officials also are working to assess the amount of damage as they hope to be able to petition for federal assistance. As of Monday midday, President Trump had only issued a major disaster declaration for Kerr County.
“This is the day when we’re going to be able to characterize where the damage is,” Bruce Clements, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management, said at the news briefing. “We’re going to look for damaged homes, damaged infrastructure, roads, bridges, things like that.”
— Staff writers Maryam Ahmed, Keri Heath and Claire Osborn contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: At least 13 dead in Austin-area flooding as Texas’ statewide death toll tops 100
Reporting by Bayliss Wagner, Austin American-Statesman / Austin American-Statesman
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
