SAN MARCOS, Texas – Communities across Central Texas are preparing for potentially dangerous flooding as several days of heavy rain move across the state.
San Marcos is among the communities preparing for the possibility of flooding. The area is under a flood watch through at least Friday night.
For people who lived through previous floods in the area, the forecast is bringing back difficult memories.
Mona King has lived in San Marcos since 2010 and owns a hair studio along River Road. She remembers being awakened by police around 3 a.m. during the 2015 Memorial Day floods and being told she needed to evacuate.
“I didn’t believe it, but I saw it,” King said. “I saw the water coming rushing here.”
King left with her two sons and headed to higher ground. When she returned, she said floodwater and mud had damaged much of her property.
“It took me two years, two and a half years to go change the sheetrock, I mean, the refrigerator, washers, everything was bad,” King said.
She said vehicles were also damaged and some of her animals were caught in the flooding. One of her dogs was swept away by the water before someone found the dog several miles away and returned her two days later.
King said the area has not experienced flooding like that since and believes drainage improvements made after the 2015 floods have made her neighborhood safer.
“I have confidence,” King said.
Texas prepares for heavy rain, flash flooding
The approaching storm has state officials urging Texans not to become complacent.
“We’re going to face a heavy rain incident,” Governor Greg Abbott said during a news conference.
The governor said the threat will expand along the Interstate 35 corridor, with rivers and waterways expected to rise as repeated rounds of rain move through the region.
“Everyone should expect the rivers to rise,” Abbott said. “At this moment in time, we can’t tell you which ones are going to flood.”
State officials said they have deployed approximately 1,900 responders and more than 1,500 pieces of equipment, including high-water vehicles, search-and-rescue boats and helicopters.
The Texas National Guard is also activating specialized personnel and equipment. Officials said more than 100 Guard personnel have been activated, with another 400 on standby. The response includes three Black Hawk helicopters equipped with hoists, a Chinook helicopter and 31 military vehicles capable of assisting with high-water rescues.
Hill Country faces another flood threat
The latest threat comes after catastrophic flooding in the Texas Hill Country last year killed 139 people.
State officials say the upcoming weather system could affect a much larger portion of Texas than that flooding event, stretching from West Texas and the Panhandle into the I-35 corridor.
Abbott said forecasters are closely watching a cold front moving into Central Texas. How quickly that front moves could significantly affect rainfall totals. If it stalls, rainfall could become considerably heavier, though officials stressed that it is still too early to know whether that will happen.
For King, the warnings are a reminder of just how quickly conditions can change.
She remembers watching water rush toward her property in the middle of the night in 2015 and the years of work that followed.
Despite that experience, King said she is less worried this time because of the improvements she has seen around her neighborhood since the 2015 flood.
Still, state officials are urging people across the affected areas to prepare before the heaviest rain arrives and to never attempt to drive through flooded roads.
