Texas Hill Country floodwaters keep rising after record rain, rescues continue

Rivers across the Texas Hill Country were still rising Friday even as the downpours that began Monday eased, leaving rescue crews pulling people from high water after more than two feet of rain had already fallen. Officials said the flooding had triggered hundreds of water rescues across the region, including more than 200 in some reports, and at least two people were killed when floodwaters swept them away in vehicles.

The fastest rise came in Comfort, Texas, where the Guadalupe River climbed more than 30 feet in three hours, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Flood sirens blared early Thursday as water surged through a region long known for violent runoff, with flash flood emergencies issued in parts of Kerr County and Uvalde County as authorities tried to keep pace with a storm system that kept feeding creeks and rivers long after the heaviest rain had passed.

Governor Greg Abbott said Texas was bracing for "record-shattering" rainfall over the next 24 hours, a warning that came as the state’s emergency response teams stayed in motion across Central Texas. Texas Task Force 1 and local first responders continued searching for stranded residents and checking low-water crossings, neighborhoods, and riverfront properties where water had not yet begun to recede.

The scale of the flooding revived painful memories in the same part of Texas that was hit by deadly July 4 floods last year, when more than 100 people were killed. The Hill Country’s steep canyons and narrow river valleys make it especially vulnerable to flash flooding, and this week’s storm showed how quickly that threat can turn deadly: rain began Monday, peaked in destructive bands, and by Friday was tapering off only after the damage had already spread across multiple counties.

Even with the worst rain easing, the danger remained in the rivers themselves. Water that falls in the Hill Country moves fast through rocky terrain, and the delayed crest can keep communities exposed for hours after the sky clears. That left rescue crews and local officials still confronting rising water, blocked roads, and homes cut off by flooding that had already outpaced many evacuation efforts.