3 Dead, 10 Missing in Travis County After Severe Flooding

At least three people died and about 10 others were reported missing in Travis County after torrential rains caused widespread flooding in Central Texas on Friday night into Saturday morning, officials said.

Travis County spokesman Hector Nieto confirmed three deaths in Travis County, with the discovery of a body in the Briarcliff area Saturday afternoon. Chief Donnie Norman of Travis County Emergency Services District No. 1 in Northwest Travis County said earlier Saturday that two people had died, and 10 others, including a teenage girl seen being washed away, were missing.

Michael Phillips, chief of the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department, has been missing since 4:30 a.m. when the veteran fireman was responding to a water rescue along Cow Creek, which runs through Burnet and far western Travis counties, said Burnet County Emergency Management Coordinator Derek Machio.

First responders lost contact with Phillips during the high-water rescue response, Machio said, adding that emergency crews are still searching for Phillips as well as the person that he was trying to rescue.

The Austin area remained under weather-related alerts Saturday after heavy downpours overnight dropped more than a foot of rain northwest of the city. In the 14 hours after midnight, nearly 17 inches of rain had fallen in Bertram and just under a foot in Burnet and Marble Falls, according to Lower Colorado River Authority hydromet data.

Austin-Travis County EMS responded to about two dozen water rescues as the flooding emergency was unfolding in western Travis County on Saturday morning, officials said.

Around 2 a.m., first responders were dispatched to a water rescue in the Sandy Creek neighborhood in Northwest Travis County, where a family was trapped in their home by quickly rising floodwaters, EMS reported. Eventually boat teams reached the family and helped dozens of people, some of whom were clinging to trees and power poles and others sitting on rooftops.

About 3 a.m., officials rescued three people who were reportedly on a dock that had broken loose along Colorado Canyon Drive in Marble Falls and was floating downriver, EMS officials said.

Wesley Hopkins, EMS chief of staff, said crews found multiple trailer homes that appeared to have been washed away, though it was unclear if the residences were occupied at the time of the flooding.

"We don't know who is missing," he said.

Meanwhile, in Williamson County, residents of RV parks along the San Gabriel River east of Georgetown, including Riverside, Shady River and Goodwater, were urged to evacuate early Saturday, Sheriff Matt Lindemann said. As of 8:30 a.m., emergency crews were going door to door asking them to seek higher ground.

He said that areas around Liberty Hill saw “significant flooding” overnight and crews have conducted multiple water rescues and closed numerous roads.

Lindemann said Saturday morning that he was not aware of any injuries, deaths or reports of missing people in Williamson County.

The National Weather Service said Saturday morning that over a foot of rain had fallen overnight in parts of Burnet County, causing streams to rise rapidly and floodwaters to begin moving downstream in Burnet, Williamson and northwest Travis counties.

"Numerous water rescues are ongoing. Seek higher ground immediately if you are near a swelling stream," it said.

Burnet County authorities were searching for a fire official who appeared to have been swept away by floodwaters early Saturday, Sheriff Calvin Boyd said.

Boyd did not immediately identify the missing man but said the fire official was responding to an emergency call when his SUV appeared to have been washed away. Boyd said crews had since recovered the man's vehicle.

'Time to start over'

Robin Bates stood at the end of her driveway Saturday afternoon, surveying her destroyed home.

For 22 years, she and her husband had curated a garden with grapevines and fig, plum and other trees. Those trees — huge pecans — saved her home from being washed into the river at 1 a.m. Saturday, she said.

The two huge trunks held her mobile home in place from the banks of Big Sandy Creek, which had engulfed the Leander neighborhood only hours earlier. By noon, the creek continued roaring as it rolled downed trees, debris and mud through the area.

“We had floods in the past,” Bates said. “It never came all the way to the house. Never.”

Bates and her daughter, who lived in a trailer home on the property, walked through the mud behind the house and picked up tools strewn on the ground.

The flooding was unlike any other Bates had seen.

“The house is attached and secured with straps,” Bates said. “Water is much more powerful.”

The storm woke Bates up at midnight. By 2 a.m., she had packed her four cats in travel crates and evacuated to her friend’s house on higher ground.

When she returned later that morning, the two homes across the road were planted in her front yard, swept off their anchors.

The roof of one home, which had plowed into Bates’ residence, was caved in. Bates had found the resident inside that morning, and though he’d had trouble walking, he was uninjured.

By early afternoon, Bates, her daughter and her friends, who had come to help her, were rushing to gather belongings. The neighbor’s gas tank had ruptured when it slammed into Bates’ home and the smell of natural gas permeated the air.

A fire department official later told them the risk of explosion was low, but at the time, they feared about lingering too long.

Six months ago, Bates had lost her husband and she’d considered moving.

“Time to start over,” she said.

Leander brothers recount waking up to flood

Brothers Kevin and Archie Basey, who have lived in a neighborhood off Nameless Road in Leander for 50 years, woke up about 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning to their property flooding.

Kevin Basey lived in a trailer home adjacent to the house on the property, but by the early morning hours, the water had risen to his chest.

“It started coming up through the floor and next thing I know, it started rising and rising and rising,” he said.

Basey’s loveseat broke the door, which he thinks let the water flow out and saved him from being swept away in the trailer home.

In the yard, the Baseys’ car port was mangled and wrapped around a tree. They pointed across the street to a lot strewn with tree limbs, fence posts and a damaged car. Their neighbors’ mobile homes were gone, they said.

“We’re alive,” Archie Basey said. “That’s the main thing.”

Nearby on Nameless Road, Shannon Garcia, who lives in Liberty Hill, stood at the crumbled remains of a creek-crossing bridge on Nameless Road as chunks of fractured asphalt and a huge downed tree covered the roadway.

Her 19-year-old son, from whom she hadn’t heard all morning, lives on the other side. His phone was probably dead, she said.

“It’s incredible,” she said, as she looked at the damage near her son's home.

She had traveled to Leander to check on him. At her home, she received 15 inches of rain overnight, and her neighbor’s home flooded, she said.

'Use extreme caution under these conditions'

With many visitors in the Austin area for the holiday weekend, the Lower Colorado River Authority is urging people to avoid boating and swimming in the Highland Lakes because of flood debris, fast-moving flows and bacteria levels that traditionally increase after a flooding event.

“The lakes remain open, but as a precaution we are recommending everyone stay off lakes Travis, LBJ and Marble Falls until further notice,” said John Hofmann, the LCRA's executive vice president of water. “This is especially important at night when visibility is reduced, as some of the navigational buoys that help guide boaters have been damaged or destroyed in the flooding.”

Lake Travis has risen more than 11 feet since Friday morning and is expected to continue to rise, according to the LCRA, which manages the Highland Lakes. Lake Buchanan also has risen since Friday and is expected to rise at least 10 additional feet in the next few days.

As of Saturday afternoon, the LCRA had flood operations underway at Inks Dam, which creates Inks Lake; at Starcke Dam, which creates Lake Marble Falls; and at Wirtz Dam, which creates Lake LBJ. The floodwater is being moved downstream to Lake Travis. Flows downstream of the dams are higher and much faster than usual.

“People need to use extreme caution under these conditions,” Hofmann said. “Unless it’s an emergency, we are encouraging people to stay away from these three lakes for the immediate future."