Emergency crews suspended their search for victims of catastrophic flooding in central Texas on Sunday morning after new warnings that additional rain could again cause waterways to surge. It was the first time a new round of severe weather has paused the search since the flooding earlier this month. Ingram Fire Department officials ordered search crews to immediately evacuate the Guadalupe River corridor in Kerr County until further notice, warning that the potential for a flash flood is high, the AP reports.
The teams have been searching for missing victims of the July 4 weekend flooding that killed at least 129 people and left more than 170 missing. As heavy rain fell Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters warned that the Guadalupe River could rise to nearly 15 feet by afternoon, about five feet above flood stage and enough to put the Highway 39 bridge near Hunt under water. "Numerous secondary roads and bridges are flooded and very dangerous," a Weather Service warning said.
A meteorologist said early Sunday that some flooding had already been reported in the northern parts of the Hill Country, per the New York Times. Forecasters don't expect the rain to be as heavy as it was on July 4, but they said the area is especially vulnerable to flooding because the ground is saturated. "The rainfall amounts of today is going to be quick for those soils to saturate and everything becomes runoff," said Orlando Bermudez of the Weather Service. The rain is forecast to continue into Monday.