Heavy rainfall causes widespread problems

By Diane Prause & Ryan Rerich, Schulenburg Sticker Staff

Heavy rains caused flooding in the Flatonia area early Monday morning, May 18, prompting road closures and a call regarding a vehicle stalled in water.

Additionally, Fayette Electric Cooperative reports that lightning and damaging winds caused widespread outages.

Bea Dittrich, who lives on Highway 90 just west of Schulenburg, said that high waters from the Navidad River had reached heights on her land that she has not witnessed in the past. Dittrich has been living in the same house for over 30 years and the embankment on her tank has water infringing on the top like never before.

“Very seldom does it reach the tank, but with all of the continued rain, it has no where else to go,” said Dittrich. “When the water comes up near the tank, you know it is high. When it nears the top, you know it is really, really high.”

Precinct 4 Commissioner Tom Muras said he spoke to Erwin Kobza on the morning of May 18 and Kobza said that it was the “first time that the Bryant Road bridge was completely submerged in its 15-year existence.”

Barricades were put into place where need be, and travel was made safe by mid-morning May 18.

“Every farm-to-market road in the Freyburg area was closed at some point on May 18,” said Muras.

Northeast of Schulenburg, there were accumulations of water that stretched over 100 yards wide and southwest of town, on FM 957, three to four feet of water could be seen standing at some points, Muras added.

Muras said that “overall, approximately 25 to 30 roads were shut down on May 18.”

The main blame for all of the high water in many areas was the large volume of rain that fell too fast, Muras said. The past rain from May 17 and even days before that had already pushed the limits of areas that held the great amounts of water.

In town, the Highway 77 underpass in Schulenburg was closed at about 7:30 a.m. Monday due to water on the roadway being about 1½ feet deep, according to Police Chief Troy Brenek.

He said the underpass remained closed for about 15 minutes until the water receded. Additionally, Eilers Street was briefly closed in the 900th block.

Meanwhile, Dittrich also mentioned that “if the rain water keeps going higher it may flow to Johnnie Holub’s house on the west side of my place.”

Dittrich received four inches of rain over May 17 and 18, and the forecast indicates more rain going forward.

High waters do not flow through without leaving anything behind.

“I am sure there will be a lot of boards and other trash when the water clears out,” said Dittrich.

The fresh grass that Dittrich had patiently been waiting to use for hay also looks to be ruined at the moment.

“The water levels rise and go down quickly, but you never know how fast it will rise. Hopefully, it will not get any higher,” Dittrich said.

As of Monday, there was no known damage to the Dittrich property, but only Mother Nature and time will tell what the situation will look like in the near future.

A powerful line of thunderstorms moved slowly over Fayette Electric Cooperative’s service territory early Monday morning, dropping 5.02 inches of rain near Muldoon and radar-estimated totals up to 8.5 inches just southeast of Muldoon.

Lightning and damaging winds caused widespread outages for approximately 950 members of the Cooperative located throughout the service territory.

Downed power lines, broken limbs, trees that were blown into power lines, and three downed poles were the culprits that caused the outages. The majority of major line outages were restored by 1 p.m.

Areas in Armstrong-Colony and Bolton Creek Road that were flooded proved to be a challenge in the restoration efforts. Damaging winds and lightning reported west of La Grange downed three power poles near Old Lockhart Road. Five FEC crews and two contractor crews worked throughout the day until power was restored to all of the members.

Fayette County EMS was dispatched to two accidents, both on I-10 in the Flatonia area, during the Monday morning rainfall, according to Director Sharon Muzny. A call to mile marker 557 ended up being cancelled, and a call to mile marker 661 resulted in the transport of one stable patient to Columbus Community Hospital, Muzny said.

Flatonia Fire & Rescue was dispatched at 6:03 a.m. to the stalled vehicle on FM 609 under the Interstate 10 overpass, according to Fire Marshal Gregg Robinson.

He said personnel waited for the water to recede and then pushed the vehicle – which was not drivable – out of the roadway. FM 609 was closed to traffic at the I-10 overpass. There were additional closures in and around Flatonia. FF&R worked traffic control at the closures, with five trucks and about 13 firefighters responding.

At FM 609, one vehicle went around the firefighter trying to divert traffic and then got stalled in the water, Robinson said.  But since the water was not fast-flowing, the person was able to walk out.

East of Flatonia, FM 1295 was closed between Highway 90 and Mulberry Creek Road north of Praha, an area prone to flooding due to runoff from the west, Robinson said. FM 609 was reopened around 8 a.m., Highway 95 was reopened a little later and FM 1295 was reopened around 9:40 a.m., according to Robinson.

Radar estimates of over six inches of rain in Fayette County prompted a Flash Flood Warning to be extended until 9:45 a.m., according to an alert from the National Weather Service issued at 7:33 a.m. Robinson reiterated information from NWS “Turn Around Don’t Drown” – “A mere six inches of fast-moving water can knock over an adult. It takes just 12 inches of rushing water to carry away a small car, while two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles. And, if a barricade is up, you are breaking the law by going around.”