Fast-moving floodwaters destroyed a bridge, forced the evacuation of riverside homes and led to numerous water rescues in Central Texas on Tuesday after more than a foot of rain fell in recent days.
The bridge crumbled as it was overrun by the bloated, roiling Llano River in Kingsland, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of Austin. The Llano and Colorado rivers meet at Kingsland, and the National Weather Service said both were experiencing "major flooding." A flash flood warning was in effect.
Residents were being evacuated from homes in Kingsland and in nearby Marble Falls, which was being overwhelmed by the Colorado River. Several school districts closed for the day, and emergency personnel blocked access to more than 150 low-water crossings.
The Llano River flows between to sides of Ranch Road 2900 after the bridge was washed out due to flooding Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018, in Kingsland, Texas. (Jay JannerAustin American-Statesman via AP)
Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement urging "all Texans to take their safety into their own hands by closely monitoring changing weather conditions and heeding warnings from local officials."
The governor's warning came little more than a week after four people were washed away when the South Llano River, which becomes the Llano River downstream, overran an RV park in Junction, Texas. Three bodies have been recovered. The search for the fourth has been suspended due to the heavy rain.
The most dramatic scenes Tuesday played out in Marble Falls, where an extraordinary amount of water poured over the Starcke Dam, carrying with it riverside docks and other large debris.
Water from the Colorado River pours over the Max Starcke Dam, Tuesday Oct. 16, 2018, in Marble Falls, Texas. The Llano and Colorado rivers meet at Kingsland and the National Weather Service said both were experiencing "major flooding." A flash flood warning was in effect. (Amanda VoisardAustin American-Statesman via AP)
Homes also were being evacuated in nearby Granite Shoals, and people were sheltering at a middle school.
Bill and Laura Villella awoke early Tuesday to about 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) of water in their Llano home. The rising water forced them to stand on their kitchen counter before emergency personnel in a boat pulled them to safety.
"We honestly did not believe it would go up that high," Bill Villella told the Austin American-Statesman. His wife added: "I've been through a lot in my life, but that's the scaredest I've ever been."
Joe Mercer and his friend Tonya Grace watch weather reports from their porch as the rising waters from the Colorado River floods their property on Tuesday Oct. 16, 2018, in Marble Falls, Texas. Mercer says they will evacuate their home if the nearby creek gets higher. (Amanda VoisardAustin American-Statesman via AP)
Water levels along the Llano River at Llano have subsided but are still well above major flood stage. Levels rose to just under 40 feet (12 meters) on Tuesday but fell as the morning progressed, settling at little more than 35 feet (11 meters), according to the National Weather Service. Major flood stage is 23 feet (7 meters), and the river isn't expected to drop below that stage until Wednesday.
Heavy rains were also impacting other parts of the state.
Flood warnings were issued for areas north of Houston, and the Fort Worth Fire Department said it responded to some 80 traffic accidents blamed on slick roads and poor visibility Tuesday morning. Officials in Dallas said the rain was causing sewer overflows in several parts of the city but added that its water supply wasn't affected.
In Austin, fire officials temporarily banned all watercraft. Flooding was also occurring in Kerr County, northwest of San Antonio, and other parts of Texas Hill Country, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. The Guadalupe River at Comfort, northwest of San Antonio, was forecast to rise from about 5 feet (1.5 meters) up to more than 28 feet (8.5 meters).
Patricia Sanchez, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said the transition from fall to winter usually brings elevated levels of rainfall — but nothing compared to the amount of precipitation over the last month.
"The ongoing multiple days of rain and the extraordinary amount is of course not normal," she said. "Not for this time of year."
Recent tropical systems and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico are contributing to the amount of rain Texas has seen, she said. Light to moderate rain will continue for the next couple of days but taper off as the weekend approaches, she said.
For the latest developments on the rains and flooding: https://bit.ly/2IZxElC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.
“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.
The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.
They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.
Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.
Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”
In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)
Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
