Flooding destroys approximately 30 percent of New Braunfels RV park
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - Early morning flooding destroyed nearly 30 percent of an RV park in New Braunfels Thursday.
River Ranch RV Resort owner Jim Smith told FOX 7 Austin the flood destroyed 15 of 53 RV’s in the park.
The flooding happened after an area upstream received two to three inches of rain an hour from 10 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday. The rain caused the Guadalupe River to rise from 9 feet to more than 15 feet within an hour.
A flood siren alerted residents, giving them about ten minutes to evacuate. "I opened the door to see [what] it was and the water was getting high." said River Ranch resident Kenneth Van Doozer.
A trailer near Van Doozer's was carried off by flood waters. Notified by the flood siren, it’s occupants were able to evacuate before it moved downstream. Doozer told FOX 7 Austin the flood waters caused multiple trailers to move. Explaining, "This other one tipped over here. We had like a little car crash here with three of them, that one came from over there. This one here smashed into these two."
No one was hurt in flood. New Braunfels Fire had a total of four water related calls including the RV park, characterizing them all as "relatively minor."
"I was fighting the water to try to get this lady and her dog out and it’s, got so fast I got stuck in the trailer with her and I called 9-1-1 and got [the fire department] over here. It took a little while but finally got them over here and they had to finally get a boat to get us out." said Van Doozer.
Van Doozer is uninsured. Thursday he returned to his RV and it "was all mud and water." Water had risen about 8 inches inside his home.
Salvation Army volunteer Amanda Hagy told FOX 7 Austin Thursday she was worried about what she could not see. "The area right here under the bridge…this is one of my biggest drop-offs where there are lots of homeless people at." she explained.
Hagy typically feeds eight to ten people near the park. Thursday she was only able to locate one of her regulars.
"Yes, there’s tragedy within storms and stuff but when you live outside and you don’t have a roof over your head it’s ten times worse." she said.
___
MORE HEADLINES:
Barton Springs Pool closed until flooding stops, damage can be assessed
Access to Comal River, Guadalupe River closed due to heavy rain
School districts delay start of school due to inclement weather
___
DOWNLOAD: FOX 7 AUSTIN NEWS APP
SUBSCRIBE: Daily Newsletter | YouTube
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter