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Two Still Missing in Travis County After Overnight Floods

StarFlight/ATCEMS
Emergency responders make a flood rescue Friday morning in Travis County.

At least two people are missing after flooding that occurred late Thursday night into Friday morning, with some areas of Southeast Austin seeing as much as nine inches of rain in the last 24 hours, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority.

Lisa Block of Travis County Emergency Services described a 911 call that came in at 1 a.m.

“The caller saw a person holding onto a pole surrounded by floodwaters and that there was a pickup truck, and they thought that the truck had other people in it. And both the truck and the person holding onto the pole were swept away by the water,” said 

It happened in the area of FM 812 and State Highway 130 in Southeast Travis County. Since then, StarFlight, along with personnel from Austin Fire Rescue, Police and Travis County Sheriff’s deputies have been searching the area. Also involved in the search is the Austin Fire Department’s aerial drone.

Block said it was a busy morning for StarFlight.

“They rescued nine people and two dogs in Southeast Travis County. Most of those were hoisted out of vehicles. There were a couple in a neighborhood called Plover Place, where they had to hoist people off of rooftops.”

She said deputies and other Travis County personnel have been busy watching low water crossings, repairing roads and removing debris. 

Steve Smart of the National Weather Service in San Antonio said that Austin-Bergstrom International Airport set a rainfall record Thursday overnight with 8.79 inches. The old record, set in 1957, was 2.86 inches.

This round of heavy rains has moved east of Austin, according to the National Weather Service:

But even a small amount of rain could cause more flash flooding, and rain remains in the forecast, with chances of thunderstorms ramping up again around the middle of next week.

Some low water crossings in the area are still closed: check the map at atxfloods.

You can also sign up for emergency updates from Travis County Emergency Services via the Warn Central Texas notification system

Trey Shaar is an All Things Considered producer, reporter and host. Got a tip? Email him at tshaar@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @treyshaar.