UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Some parts of Texas remained under threat for dangerous flash flooding Friday as other areas saw water levels recede enough for cleanup efforts following days of punishing downpours blamed for the deaths of two people.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency in the early morning for the city of Sonora in Sutton County, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio.
The local sheriff's office used a boat to rescue one person and local officials were urging residents in low-lying areas along the Dry Devils River to evacuate as heavy rain fell, although the request was not mandatory, said Chief Deputy Jon Gann.
“The water's up to the top of the banks,” Gann said. “If we get any more, we're going to be into homes.”
Flash flood warnings were issued for several other counties in the Texas Hill Country, where many areas are still reeling from devastating floods a year ago. Flood warnings were in place through the weekend in many locations downstream from hard-hit areas, where rain was tapering off Friday. Some rivers were expected to reach historic levels.
Some areas west of San Antonio have seen 2 feet (60 centimeters) or more of rain since the storms began on Tuesday. Rescuers aboard boats and helicopters have saved more than 200 people including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Gov. Gregg Abbott said.
The storms and flooding threatened multiple counties close to the Mexico border and in the Hill Country near San Antonio. Roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch this week.
One person who died was driving on a flooded road and was swept away near Uvalde, authorities said. Another victim, 65-year-old John Mark Steward of Kerrville, died after his mobile home was swept into Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River, his wife said. The Guadalupe is the same river wrecked by flash floods last year when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic.
The slow-moving severe weather system was expected to meander in a northwesterly direction on Friday and make its way toward the Texas Big Bend in the western part of the state, the weather service said.
In Uvalde, one of the hardest-hit cities from flooding, waters were receding and officials said a major highway, Route 90, had reopened. Floodwaters had overrun the city overnight into Thursday, cutting off most outside routes.
The unfolding crisis brought back haunting memories of last summer’s unimaginable Hill Country floods that killed more than 100 people over the July Fourth holiday.
“It’s crazy happening two times in one year,” said Josiah Rodriguez, who awoke to the sound of heavy rain around 2 a.m. Thursday in Kerrville. He navigated flooded roads to help evacuate relatives.
“Last year there was no warning of it,” he said. “It just kind of happened overnight and it took everyone by surprise. This year, a lot more alerts have gone into place, a lot more safety measures.”
Residents said they were caught off guard a year ago and didn’t receive any warning when floods overtopped the Guadalupe River. Some local leaders were criticized for not acting quickly.
So far, the Guadalupe has remained below the record levels reached in 2025. Close to Camp Mystic, which hasn't reopened since last year's tragedy, the Guadalupe near Hunt reached about 20.5 feet (6.3 meters), which is enough to cause flooding, according to U.S. Geological Survey and National Water Prediction Service data.
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.
A property's gate featuring cattle is partially submerged with flood waters along State Highway 27 in Comfort, Texas, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
A helicopter flies over the Guadalupe River as floods pass through the area on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Flooding blocks off G Street along the Guadalupe River on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
MOSCOW (AP) — Boris Nadezhdin, who criticized Moscow’s military action in Ukraine and tried to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the 2024 election, was convicted Friday of displaying “extremist symbols” — an action that will keep him out of this year's parliamentary race.
The verdict underlined the determination by authorities to stamp out any remaining sign of dissent ahead of September's vote as the fuel crisis caused by Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities across Russia threatened to erode public support for the Kremlin.
The charges against Nadezhdin, 63, were based on a 2023 online video in which he briefly showed a picture of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who at that time was serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism that were widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny later died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024.
Nadezhdin rejected the case against him as absurd and argued authorities were trying to keep him from campaigning in September's parliamentary vote. The court in Dolgoprudny, a town on Moscow’s northern outskirts where he lives, convicted him and ordered him to pay a fine of 1,000 rubles (about $13).
The Kremlin's main United Russia party is seeking to preserve its dominance in the lower house of parliament in a race against so-called “systemic” opposition, including the Communist Party and a couple of other parties that vote in sync with the Kremlin on key issues. The campaign comes amid signs of growing public fatigue as fuel shortages and economic pain from the Ukraine conflict increase, an environment that reduces the tolerance by the authorities for even token opposition.
In January 2024, Nadezhdin collected thousands of signatures in his run for president as he openly called for a halt to the fighting in Ukraine. But he was kept off the March 2024 ballot after Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that more than 9,000 signatures submitted by his campaign were invalid — enough to disqualify him. Putin faced only token opposition in the election and easily won a fifth term.
A veteran politician, Nadezhdin worked in the government in the 1990s when he was an adviser to Sergei Kiriyenko, now a top Putin aide. He also served as a lawmaker and more recently became a member of a municipal council, one of the few remaining liberal voices on Russia's political scene.
Last month, Nadezhdin declared his bid to run for the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, but the Justice Ministry quickly branded him a “foreign agent” — a designation that carries strong pejorative connotations and brings additional government scrutiny. It also bars him from holding public office, but he was still able to wage his symbolic campaign for a parliament seat until Friday’s verdict.
Another blow came Monday, when police detained Nadezhdin for a few hours before making the charges that were punishable by a fine or a 15-day jail term. He said he was considering going abroad but was barred from leaving Russia.
He told the court that he was too sick to serve any prison time, saying he “will just die” behind bars. “The real goal of what's going on here is to shut my mouth and prevent me from running for the State Duma,” he said.
Nadezhdin complained of feeling sick at Friday’s hearing, which was interrupted to let an ambulance team check his condition.
After the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, authorities ramped up their crackdown on dissent and free speech, relentlessly targeting rights organizations, independent media, members of civil society organizations, LGBTQ+ activists and some religious groups. Hundreds of people have been jailed and thousands of others have fled the country.
Also on Friday, Ilya Remeslo, a pro-Kremlin activist and blogger who has become a Putin critic, was arrested in St. Petersburg on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military — an accusation widely used against those who oppose the government's policies.
The state Tass news agency reported that he would be taken to Moscow to face a court hearing.
In March, Remeslo criticized the military action in Ukraine and called for Putin's resignation. Soon after, he was placed in a psychiatric clinic and spent a month there in what he cast as a punishment for his remarks.
Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, accused of displaying "extremist symbols," speaks to journalists as he arrives at the courtroom in the town of Dolgoprudny outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, accused of displaying "extremist symbols," speaks at the courtroom in the town of Dolgoprudny outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Emergency medical personnel provide care to Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, right, accused of displaying "extremist symbols," during a break at a courtroom in the town of Dolgoprudny, outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, accused of displaying "extremist symbols," holds an autobiography while attending a court session in the town of Dolgoprudny outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, accused of displaying "extremist symbols," attends a court session in the town of Dolgoprudny outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
