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Heavy rains lead to deadly flooding in Kaufman
Heavy rains led to deadly flooding on Friday night and into Saturday morning in North Texas.
Heavy rains led to deadly flooding on Friday night and into Saturday morning in North Texas.
Streets in Ellis County and the city of Kaufman were flooded overnight and there were homes that needed to be evacuated.
That left some vehicles mostly underwater.
"I was coming down this hill and I didn’t see the water until it was too late. It splashed all over my engine. It had killed my engine," Jorge Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez was driving at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday while heading to work, when his car stalled after driving through high water.
Others lost their lives on flooded county roads west of Kaufman.
A vehicle was swept off FM 1390 in Kaufman. Both occupants of the vehicle died, according to Kaufman County Emergency Manager Steve Howie.
"There were two separate cars that drove off into deep waters. FM 1390. Water was moving swiftly and washed them off the road," Howie said.
The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office said the victims were a man who was taken to the hospital, where he died, and a woman.
"At one point, they said that the car was under 10 feet of water. Now I don’t know if it had gone off into the creek and it was under, or if it was that deep under the road," Howie explained.
Howie said 26 people were evacuated, along with 10 dogs, with most of them being in rural Kaufman County.
"If I had to estimate, I would probably say 10-12 homes have been evacuated," he added.
Parts of Dallas, Ellis, Kaufman and Bosque counties received more than a foot of rain, with several more inches possible through Monday.
The Bosque County Office of Emergency Management reported this has broken into the Top 5 All-Time floods for the area.
The Bosque County Sheriff's Office said they had to take part in "a number" of swift water rescues and there were several homes that had to be evacuated.
The Kaufman Fire Department said they started performing rescues starting at 3 a.m.
The city of Kaufman reported having 10 inches of rain since Friday night.
"I've been here for seven years and I can't ever remember anything this bad," said Lt. Tanner Jones with the Kaufman Fire Department.
The fire department said they were called to one home with about three feet of water inside and evacuated four or five homes in the area.
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Kaufman Fire Dept. on flooding evacuations
Kaufman Fire Department Lieutenant Tanner Jones on talks about the rescue efforts during the early hours of Saturday morning.
Some are sheltering in place, waiting for the water to recede.
Homes were evacuated as some residents cleaned what they could on Saturday, some in knee-high water.
Texas Task Force 1 is assisting, with boat crews at the ready in case there is another round of torrential rain.
Howie said the last flooding event of this magnitude was in 2015 and 2016.
"We essentially got about 10 inches in eight hours or so, and that’s just more rain than our systems can handle," he said.
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Dallas weather: Oct. 29 evening forecast
FOX 4 meteorologist Ali Turiano talks about the heavy rain and the upcoming drop in temperatures.
Tamara Williams said her son’s house was flooded and cars submerged.
"We came to try and rescue them, to pick them up and take them back to my house," she said.
She waited for the Kaufman Fire Department to rescue her, her son, and daughter-in-law.
"They called us at 7 a.m. this morning, freaking out and showed us picture. The water is up under their house like pretty close to the door, and I told them call the fire department," Williams recalled.
Their three dogs, two cats, and two guinea pigs were also saved.
"We came out there this morning, woke up to walk our dogs. It was everywhere," Williams’ son, Noah Gonyea, said.
Several cars were stranded on the roads Friday night and into Saturday morning as people tried to drive through flooded streets.
Three Forney police officers had to go to the hospital Friday night during a water rescue.
They were called to the service road of Highway 80 near Summerhaven for a woman whose car was stuck in the water.
During the rescue, three officers became submerged for a time while trying to rescue the woman.
The officers were evaluated at the hospital and released.
The woman was not injured.
Our strong, cold front arrives Sunday morning, along with another batch of showers.
Highs will be in the 40s on Sunday, with wind chills making it feel like the 30s.