Floods Kill 18 Near Texas-Mexico Border

Thousands of people had been evacuated, dozens were missing and by Monday, at least 18 people had been killed by flooding in an area of southwest Texas and northern Mexico where just a week ago the ground was cracking from prolonged drought.

The stalled remains of Tropical Storm Charley deluged the area with more than 20 inches of rain over the weekend. More than two-thirds of the border town of Del Rio, about 120 miles west of San Antonio, was under water.

Rushing water from overflowing creeks and riverbeds made roads into Del Rio impassable, hampering rescue efforts, authorities said.

“The flood wave is about a mile wide coming down the Rio Grande,” Tom Millwee, state coordinator for the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press.

Hundreds of residents were forced from their homes. Some found shelter in local churches, high schools or the civic center.

In Del Rio, a town of about 34,000, four people were confirmed dead and as many as 30 others were missing.

“We’re still recovering bodies and all the low crossings, the creeks have flooded,” said police officer John Wilson.

The Rio Grande goes out of its banks there at 8 feet, and by 4 a.m. Monday, when the National Weather Service lost contact with its flood gauge, the water level had reached 15.5 feet.

As rain continued to fall, National Guardsmen dispatched to the area by Gov. George W. Bush flew nonstop rescue missions in four helicopters, plucking stranded residents from rooftops, cars and trees.

Phone lines jammed, the power failed intermittently and the city’s water system broke down.

“You can’t believe the devastation out there,” said U.S. Border Patrol spokeswoman Patricia Mancha, working out of a makeshift command post at the Del Rio airport. “Impromptu lakes and rivers are forming. We were not prepared for this onslaught of rain. It’s pretty bad.”

Across the border in Ciudad Acuna, the rains drove a reported 3,000 people from their homes. Nine were reported killed there when they tried to cross a flooded gully by holding onto a rope.

On Sunday, at least five other people died in the floods. A 65-year-old man died while being evacuated from his home along the Frio River, and four Mexican citizens, including two toddlers, died when their pickup truck was swept away by the rushing water about 100 miles northwest of San Antonio.

The source of the unexpected deluge is a tropical storm that came ashore from the Texas Gulf Coast Saturday and was expected to drift westward into Mexico on Sunday. Instead, the storm stalled, with concentrated rains in an area stretching from Del Rio to Eagle Pass, about 50 miles south.

Emergency-response coordinators predicted that the flood waters would reach Laredo, about 125 miles downriver, by Wednesday. Until this week, Del Rio had been suffering from a months-long drought and one of the hottest summers on record. It was in Del Rio that at least 20 immigrants died from heat and dehydration as they tried to make it through the parched Texas desert to jobs in the north.

“For months, we’ve all been praying for rain,” said Cristina Guevara, district spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation. “It’s a wonderful gift, but enough is enough.”