La Grange experiences fast flooding due to rain
LA GRANGE, Texas - The flooding in La Grange happened fast. Video from Bridget Huser show her walking through the high water early Thursday morning as she was trying to reach her house a block away from the town square.
Next door some of the water was rushing into Kitina Davidson’s house. "It's hard to stop it because it comes from both directions," she said. Davidson also showed FOX 7 Austin video of her home a few minutes later. It was full of wall-to-wall water with many items stacked on tables and chairs.
At a house next to the UP railroad tracks, Jennifer Bernshausen and her children escaped in waist-high water. As they waded to higher ground, her boyfriend tried to clear a storm drain. "It's scary, that water is running, and you got three kids and it's all because the drains are not clean or there is something wrong with the drains it just doesn’t make sense to me," she said.
The railroad tracks were also used as a refuge by several people who drove into the high water. That caused another unexpected situation according to Craig Moreau, Fayette County’s chief of emergency management and homeland security.
"Yeah and we had to shut down the train over it, we had to call Union Pacific and say please to send a train because they parked there a car right on the tracks. Look having a little water in your car is better that having it smashed by a train, I assure you," said Moreau.
No injuries were reported, but officials say there were 10 calls for help. There was also a high water rescue in Flatonia under the I-10 overpass.
The storm was a loud rain bomb according to Audrey Huenefeld. "Oh it was really bad, a lot of lightning, a lot of thunder, and very, very, heavy rain. Didn’t sleep much since 2:00 just listen to it," she said.
Some of the rain came through the back door of a shop owned by Fernando Gutierrez. "I think we dodged a bullet, got a lot of boxes saturated, customer’s tee-shirt blanks and stuff like that. Little bit of that got wet but luckly got her first thing in the morning got the boxes, picked up and trying to dry out like I said," he said.
Clean up started as soon as the rain stopped. Ron Vinson spent the morning helping a neighbor’s business. "If we get that much rain at one time, it’s guaranteed to flood this place," he said.
This is the second big rain event this year in La Grange. It's also another warning of how quickly conditions can change.
"If there is bad weather forecasted, always practice extreme caution, be careful, keep your eye on what's going on, watch your weather phone alerts, keep up with everything and don’t drive on the roads and drive off into the high water," said Fire Chief Frank Menefee.
City officals in La Grange say they have several drainage improvement projects in the works but are having trouble getting construction supplies.
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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
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