Stormy weather: Flash floods wash over Hays County

Recent rains caught locals by surprise as witnessed in the Kyle HEB parking lot where shoppers were seen racing to their cars. PHOTO by SEAN KIMMONS

by JEN BIUNDO

Tropical Storm Hermine tracked a soggy path through central Texas Tuesday, dumping several inches of rain on a thirsty region that had declared a burn ban just seven days earlier.

Like low-water crossings around the county, Chaparral Road was impassable at Bear Creek on Wednesday. PHOTO by BRYCE BALES

As of press time Wednesday morning, a flash flood watch from the National Weather Service remained in effect through noon. But local emergency coordinators said the storm, which soaked northern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley before skirting west of the Austin area, didn’t cause any large-scale problems.

“As far as any significant flooding, there has been none,” said Hays County Emergency Services Coordinator Jeff Turner. “We’ve got a few roads closed in the Wimberley area and the typical spots in Kyle.”

Original projections suggested Hermine could dump a foot of rain on Central Texas. As of Wednesday morning, 5.87 inches of rainfall had been record in Kyle and more rain forecasted for today.

Buda and Kyle saw several road closures at low water crossings, including Burleson Road south of IH-35, Dacy Lane, Plum Creek Lane, Post Road, Cimarron Park, Cole Springs Road and Robert S. Light Blvd.

Hays CISD monitored the storm throughout the day, but didn’t release students early, said Hays CISD spokesperson Julie Jerome.

Local fire departments also spent the day with an eye on the radar, but the storm brought little in the way of emergencies. Buda Fire Chief Clay Huckaby said he wasn’t aware of any major flooding in the area, and said his firefighters didn’t respond to any weather-related accidents.

“Right here in the Buda area, it was pretty uneventful,” Huckaby said.

The Kyle Fire Department also didn’t report any major incidents, said Battalion Chief Marco Wren.

“The storm didn’t come in like they thought it would,” Wren said.

With rainfall expected to continue through Thursday, Kyle Deputy Fire Chief Rick Beaman said the department would continue to monitor levels in local waterways.

“As the storm moves to the north, we don’t want to see any spilling of the rivers from heavy rainfalls north of us,” Beaman said.

Hays County, colloquially dubbed “flash flood alley,” has seen a number of deadly accidents in recent years, with motorists swept away as they tried to cross flooded roads.

In the last three years, Hays County has installed 16 automated flood sensors at the most dangerous low water crossings. The computerized warning systems monitor water levels and automatically begin to flash when water rises, indicating to motorists that the road is flooded. County officials receive notification when roads are flooded, and area residents and commuters can check closures on the county website.

“They’ve been a tremendous asset,” Turner said of the automated crossings. “We can’t be everywhere and we can’t have people on every road monitoring every crossing.”

With rains expected to continue to fall on the saturated region, Turner urged local motorists to monitor the weather, listen for advisories from the National Weather Service, and keep an eye out for flooded low water crossings.

“If you get to a low water crossing or any water over the road that looks significant, turn around, don’t drown,” Turner said.