Texas Floods Kill Two, More Storms Forecast for Overnight
Mandatory evacuations across the Texas Hill Country are underway as life-threatening flash floods wreck bridges and roads with more heavy rain expected overnight.
A wide swath of Texas is forecast to receive as much as eight inches (20 centimeters) of additional precipitation through Friday morning to cap off a week of downpours that revived memories of the catastrophic deluge that killed more than 130 people a year ago.
Scattered thunderstorms redeveloped across parts of south and central Texas overnight into Friday, and brief tornadoes are possible in the stronger storms, according to the National Weather Service’s Austin and San Antonio branch.
Evacuations have been complicated by almost 90 road and highway closures between San Antonio and the border town of Del Rio. Firefighters, state game wardens and police officers have been deployed to rescue residents trapped by the flooding or atop houses surrounded by rushing water.
Two people have died. One involved a man in a recreational vehicle that was swept away by floodwaters and the second a woman inundated while driving a car, Governor Greg Abbott said during a Thursday evening media briefing.
Meanwhile, Black Hawk helicopters were being used to pluck stranded residents from Uvalde, a hamlet 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, said Texas National Guard Major General Thomas Suelzer.
The Nueces River that’s a dry riverbed in many spots for much of the year is forecast to swell overnight to two times the flow of Niagara Falls, which would be a record volume, Abbott added.
“It already has been a historic flooding event,” the governor said. The people of Uvalde are most at risk overnight because they are “getting it on all sides.”
This year’s flooding hasn’t been as deadly as last year’s disaster because of enhanced early-warning systems and people have grown more cautious about camping close to Hill Country rivers, said Philip Bedient, a Rice University engineering professor who studies hydrology and flood prediction.
“These are very rapidly moving rivers and once you’re swept away, you’re definitely in harm’s way,” said Bedient, who founded Rice’s Severe Storm Prediction Center. “But having said that, I still think that there’s much greater awareness now compared to what happened a year ago.”
Read More: Texas Floods, Canada Smoke and Western Heat Batter US
Extremes have emerged in all corners of the North American weather map this week, from wildfires in Canada and smoke in New York to heat in California and the East Coast. Across the continent, people are choking on pollution, wilting under high temperatures and fleeing advancing flames.
The @TxDPS yesterday rescued a young girl, her family, and their two dogs in Uvalde.
Texans in affected areas should remain vigilant, monitor local forecasts, follow guidance from local officials and stay far away from rising water. Turn Around Don’t Drown. pic.twitter.com/XqAOj5ZvZu
— Governor Abbott Press Office (@GovAbbottPress) July 16, 2026
In the town of Kerrville, Texas, which was close to the epicenter of the July 2025 tragedy, police directed residents living near a creek to flee to higher ground on Thursday. A church gymnasium was opened to provide shelter.
Along the Guadalupe River, where more than 25 girls and staff at a summer youth camp perished last year, the water rose 32 feet (9.8 meters) in just four hours, the National Weather Service wrote in a social-media post.
“People are well prepared this time and more cautious,” said Hatim Sharif, a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio who studies flash flooding. While the rainfall is comparable to last year’s, the human impacts appears limited in part because “many businesses told people not to drive to work.”
Camp Waldemar and Camp Stewart, which hug the banks of the Guadalupe, said all campers and counselors were safe as of Thursday morning. Another camp run by the Children’s Association for Maximum Potential was sheltering in place and said in a Facebook post that it was staying in contact with Kerr County Emergency Management.
“Each individual in the state of Texas has the capability of protecting and saving their own life right now by staying away from the rising rivers,” the governor said.
The Leona River near the town of Uvalde also was rapidly overflowing, filling streets and houses, according to video posted by The Weather Channel.
“It’ll be an extraordinary event,” Sharif said. “Some areas could receive maybe close to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rainfall in 72 hours.”
Photo: Debris blocks a road in Kerrville, Texas on July 16. Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images