Rain lashed Central Texas throughout the evening and on through the morning. At least 18 inches of rain were dumped on Llano, and forecasters say the same storm system is heading this morning toward the Austin metro area. Above: Crowds have gathered to watch the water spill out of Mansfield Dam. At right: Damage is visible as the waters of Whitman Creek recede.
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_{©www.statesman.com} | Gewijzigd: 24 april 2017, 11:23 uur, door Joyce.s

Storyhighlights
• Treacherous Texas downpours take 11 lives in 11 days
• 10 inches of rain possible in some areas if systems merge
• 32 high-water rescues in Marble Falls
• Texas National Guard dispatches 150 troops, 50 vehicles


A car rests against a tree Thursday in Granbury, Texas, as resident flood survivors search through their homes.


Flood survivor Pat Freeman surveys damage to her backyard Wednesday in Salado, Texas.

MARBLE FALLS, Texas (AP) -- More rain fell Thursday in flood-weary parts of Texas, where evacuations were under way and residents were bracing for even more of the constant downpours that have killed 11 people in recent days.

Officials reported calls for dozens of rescues in San Antonio, and hundreds of people were being ordered to leave their homes near the bloated Brazos River in North Texas. More...

©CNN

COFFEYVILLE, Kansas (AP) -- The flood is bad enough, engulfing homes to the rooftops and turning neighborhoods into floating junkyards of children's toys and family heirlooms.

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Floodwater surrounds a refinery in Coffeyville, Kansas, on Monday.

But the floodwaters here also carry some of the 42,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled from the Coffeyville Resources refinery on Sunday, coating everything they touch with a slimy, smelly layer of goo.

"My question is how are they going to get all that oil out of the environment," said Mary Burge, a heart surgery patient who was forced to breathe from her portable oxygen tank. The petroleum odor Monday was so strong it could be detected from helicopters passing overhead.

The oil spill, caused by a malfunction while the refinery was shutting down in advance of the flooding, has concerned federal and state officials as they monitor the slick's progress down the Verdigris River toward drinking water sources and recreation areas in Oklahoma.

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Oily water flows out of the refinery and over school buses in Coffeyville on Monday

It also presents another hurdle to Coffeyville leaders as they map out long-term flood recovery efforts that now must deal with the toxic sludge.

Jim Miller, Montgomery County emergency manager, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had teams on the scene and was monitoring the oil as it snaked through town, leaving greasy stains where it receded from lawns and buildings.

Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general, said the EPA and state officials would work with officials at the refinery to measure the amount of contamination and help the refinery in cleaning up.

In the meantime, however, Watson said, "We're asking everyone to avoid the floodwaters."

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Floodwaters cover most of the windows and door at a business in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on Monday.

That wasn't an option for Fire Department Capt. Mike Mansfield, who rescued eight dogs from water-logged homes Monday. He said all the dogs found outside were covered in oil.

The oil was floating downriver toward Oklahoma and that state's Oologah Lake, about 30 miles northeast of Tulsa, said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the Kansas state adjutant. Oklahoma officials were optimistic the spill would dissipate before it reached the lake, which provides flood control, drinking water and recreation.

"There are nine public water supplies along the Verdigris and the Oologah Lake, and none of them are currently affected," said Skylar McElhaney, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma's Department of Environmental Quality. Tulsa is among the cities that get water from Oologah.

The oil spill just added to the misery caused by widespread flooding for thousands of evacuees in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Eleven deaths have been blamed on the storms and flooding in Texas, where two men are missing. In North Little Rock, Arkansas, about 30 homes were evacuated Monday after a faulty drainage system caused flooding up to six feet deep in some spots.

The full extent of the economic costs may not be known for some time. Weeks of heavy rains have dampened recreational activities across the Plains, slowing business at parks and tourist destinations and leaving campsites and hiking trails waterlogged.

A year ago many Texas officials were warning boaters about lakes that were too low and banning fireworks because the ground was too dry. Now some popular lakes might be closed for the Fourth of July because they're too full, and fireworks shows are threatened by a continuing forecast of rain.

Rob McCorkle, a spokesman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said recent torrential rain already has forced three state parks to close temporarily, some through Independence Day, one of the busiest times of the year.

"Obviously it's going to impact numbers," he said. "People don't want to go camping when it's pouring down rain."

McCorkle said the department has closed Lake Whitney State Park, an hour south of Fort Worth, as well as Mother Neff and South Llano River state parks in Central Texas. Several reservations at Lake Brownwood State Park in West Texas had to be canceled and some of the campsites were flooded, he said.

"If this kind of rain continues and keeps these parks shut down, it will definitely have an impact of the revenue flow for the state park system," McCorkle said

But for swimmers who need to get their fix, water parks are always an option -- and they need the business.
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Jeffrey Siebert, a spokesman for Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, said attendance has taken a hit and even a threat of showers is enough to keep customers away.

"We've been very disappointed with the beginning of our season," he said. "No rain this week would be ideal. No rain and no prediction of rain would be great."

_{Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.}

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (AP) -- Floods slowly subsided Thursday in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, although forecasters warned that isolated storms could hamper efforts to clean up after weeks of heavy-rain damaged homes, businesses and roads.


Floodwaters are receding in Osawatomie, Kansas, where James Brewer rescued a painting of a cat on Tuesday.

"Rain is not out of the forecast but it's not expected to be any significant amounts to affect the rivers in any significant way," said Daryl Williams, a National Weather Service forecaster in Norman, Oklahoma.

The weather had already been blamed for 11 deaths in Texas over the past two weeks and the death of a 16-year-old girl in Missouri. The teenager's body was found Wednesday night in a submerged SUV after she apparently tried to cross a flooded creek.

The worst flood damage was in Miami, Oklahoma, where the Neosho River crested at about 29 feet, its highest stage since 1951. The river was not expected to be back within its banks until late Sunday. "We're starting to see an average drop of about a half-inch every hour," City Manager Mike Spurgeon said.


Firefighters Jason Beasley, left, and Joey Hooton rescue two people from a stranded car Tuesday in Tyler, Texas.

A shelter set up in the city housed about 55 people, and about 600 homes and businesses were expected to be damaged by flooding, Spurgeon said. More than 30 roads in and out of the city of 13,500 were still closed Thursday.

Spurgeon estimated it could take six months to a year to rebuild in the parts of town most heavily damaged.

"It's going to take a while for some of these people to get back on their feet," said Joyce Heeney, working at the First Baptist Church of Miami, one of the overflow shelters in town. "We had one family that left (their home) with nothing." Video One mother in Kansas who lost everything »

Concerns also eased Thursday that a full Lake Texoma along the Oklahoma-Texas line would send floodwaters into the Red River.

Ross Adkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said water could spill over the Denison Dam, possibly Thursday, but no major damage to homes was anticipated. The last major flood was nearly 5 feet over the spillway in 1990. This year's level is expected to crest at 1 foot over the spillway.

Still, residents, particularly those living in farm areas near the river, were warned to take precautions.

We're "warning residents along the Red River to move all livestock, equipment and other necessary belongings to higher ground," Bryan County Emergency Management Director James Dalton said. "We are also urging residents to have an initial evacuation plan, should conditions threaten homes in the area."

Thursday, the National Weather Service forecast a return to drier conditions in northeastern Oklahoma over the next 10 days, with an occasional isolated rain shower.

About 50 Oklahoma Army National Guard troops worked 12-hour shifts providing security in flood-ravaged neighborhoods.

As floodwaters receded in hard-hit southeastern Kansas Thursday, emergency personnel worked to get several semitrailer loads of bottled water into flooded communities where water treatment plants were down because of high water or power loss.

The area was mostly spared in overnight storms. The half inch or so of rain that fell was not expected to raise river levels, which should continue to slowly fall over the next several days, said Andy Kleinsasser, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

But south-central Kansas was hard hit with overnight torrential rains, especially in Sumner County where some areas got as much as three inches in just a few hours.

In Texas, heavy rain spread across wide areas on Wednesday, causing minor street flooding. More than half the state's counties were under flash flood watches, flash flood warnings, flood warnings or a combination of watches and warnings Wednesday night.
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The Trinity River in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was expected to crest at 37 feet, about 7 feet above flood stage. Corpus Christi recorded nearly 3 and a half inches of rain by Wednesday evening, on top of 10 inches that fell on Monday.

In northeastern Oklahoma, the Caney River began slowly falling after cresting at 34.18 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The river, which forced hundreds of residents near Bartlesville from their homes this week, wasn't expected to fall below flood stage until Sunday night, the weather service said

_©CNN