Residents of Southeast Texas Warned to Brace for Record Flooding

Forecasters on Wednesday warned residents of rural southeastern Texas to brace for record flooding as water from days of heavy rain surged down several rivers toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Flooding has killed at least 15 people and caused millions of dollars in damage since last week.

In this city of 10,000 residents, officials prepared to accommodate 1,500 people at a shelter in a junior high school, City Manager Bob Miller said.

Thirteen residents spent Christmas Eve at the shelter, and five had registered by late afternoon to spend Christmas night.

“This is a Christmas I’ll remember all right,” said 89-year-old Evelyn Shanklin, who slept Tuesday night on a foam pad in the school gymnasium.

There was record flooding in rural areas along the San Gabriel, Little Brazos, Brazos and Navasota rivers, said John Patton, a National Weather Service hydrologist.

The Brazos and Little Brazos rivers were more than four miles wide above Texas Highway 21 in east-central Texas, Patton said.

The Navasota River was about two miles wide at Texas Highway 30, about 70 miles northwest of Houston, he said.

The flooding has deluged farmland and forced hundreds of people from their homes.

“Residents should prepare for flooding as bad or worse as in modern history all the way downstream,” Patton said.

The mass of water moving downstream was not expected to reach the Gulf of Mexico until next week, forecasters said.

The flood wave on the Brazos and Trinity rivers was slowed down some by reservoirs and partly soaked into farmland.

“One hates to think what the flooding would be without those reservoirs,” Patton said.

The Colorado River, which runs by Wharton, was expected to crest by midnight today at seven feet over flood stage, Miller said.

In southern Texas, livestock died Tuesday as levees crumbled near the junction of the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers, Patton said.

“Many levees broke, flooding all the highways in the area and drowning many, many cattle,” he said. The exact number of dead livestock was not immediately known.

The entire Goliad State Park in southern Texas was under water except the headquarters building, the superintendent’s residence and the mission, Patton said. There were no reports of injuries or missing campers.

Showers on Wednesday were scattered from Lubbock in northwest Texas to north of San Antonio in southern Texas.

Most major highways remained open, the Texas Department of Transportation reported Wednesday.

The Trinity River was slowly easing back into its banks in Dallas, where hundreds of people spent Christmas mopping out their homes.

In Dallas, where two flood-prone neighborhoods remained inundated, Red Cross volunteers used mobile kitchens to serve about 1,000 Christmas Day dinners of turkey and dressing to residents.

Toys for children were provided by the police department’s Santa Cop program.

The Red Cross offered cleanup kits including mops, scrub brushes, buckets and cleansers. Some people received temporary housing in hotels or emergency vouchers for food and supplies.