Storms in Texas
BUDA, Texas — Punishing storms and suspected tornadoes Friday socked an already sodden area of Texas that was still drying out from the remnants of Hurricane Patricia, forcing evacuations and temporarily shutting down a gridlocked 10-mile stretch of interstate. At least two people died and another was missing, authorities said.
More than 16 inches of rain soaked one neighborhood, and Austin Bergstrom International Airport suspended all flights after a half-foot of water flooded lower levels of the air traffic control tower. A lazy creek cutting through Texas wine country swelled into a rushing torrent, sending eight members of a vacationing church group scrambling to a second floor and awaiting rescue from the National Guard.
Powerful winds tossed a trailer from an RV park onto the roof of a three-story Holiday Inn. Abandoned cars, many submerged in water, littered back roads that weary drivers risked after heavy downpours flooded Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Austin, closing one of the busiest stretches of roadways in the U.S.
The body of a driver who disappeared in floodwaters was later found in a hard-hit area near the Austin airport, the Travis County Emergency Management Office said. Military crews also found a body at Camp Bullis, a military training installation north of San Antonio, a Defense Department spokesman said. That person was believed to be a driver whose vehicle was swept off the road by flash flooding.
Another woman remained missing elsewhere.
Last weekend, storms from Patricia’s Category 5 aftermath dumped nearly a foot of rain in parts of the same region. Although not deadly, that drenching left the ground saturated and unable to sop up the latest deluge.
“The flooding was so much,” said Kathleen Haney, who was part of the Dallas church group rescued from a bed-and-breakfast in Wimberley. “It just kept coming up and coming up.”
Near San Antonio, four students with special needs and two adults were rescued from a school bus caught in floodwaters that reached the top of the tires. Dozens of other high-water rescues busied emergency crews from before dawn to midafternoon. The rain was expected to clear by today, but not before one last line of possible storms.
Forecasters say an upper-level disturbance from Mexico carried the storms into Texas as a strong El Nino is expected to make for a wet winter in the U.S.
“We really couldn’t take this type of rainfall that we’ve seen today,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Runyen said.
In Floresville, a suspected tornado caused only minor injuries, Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jason Reyes said. Ruth Veliz, whose parents own a taco shop in town, said one of her employees yelled “Tornado!” and tried to close a door before a customer pulled her to safety.
Wind gusts of up to 70 mph were reported in some places.
Winds peeled off roofs elsewhere and collapsed a historic 19th-century building in the small town of D’Hanis, one of three cities where suspected tornadoes touched down.