September 11, 2018–Emergency crews were toned out for high water rescues in several local communities across Medina County and in Moore this past Sunday morning, September 9. High water rescues occurred in Devine, LaCoste, Rio Medina, Lytle, and Moore.
“We had several high water rescues this Sunday, and even more calls for help that were cancelled while emergency crews were in route, where they were pulled out by somebody else or somehow got through it,” said Emergency Manager Keith Lutz.
The high water rescue outside Devine occurred on CR 761 near Charlie’s Bar and Mike’s Garage.
Devine Volunteer Fire Department was toned out for a car stuck in high flood waters around 9 am that morning, the first of many pleas for help from stranded drivers in stalled out cars in the county that morning. Medina County Lt. Donny Whitaker Assisted in pulling the driver to safety.
“A car stalled and the driver was waist deep in water. The car is still out there,” according to Christian Jones from Devine VFD.
In the City of Devine John Jaworowski recorded 11.8 inches of rain between September 2-10th.
In the Great Oaks area Nickie Arche recorded 6 inches in her rain gauge on Saturday, and dumped it out only to find another 6 inches Sunday morning.
Lytle had a high water rescue on FM 2790 E, about 3 miles outside of Lytle going toward Somerset. A driver stalled out in about 2 feet of water flowing across the roadway, according to Police Chief Richie Priest. There were also a couple of other vehicles that were abandoned on the side of roads presumably due to flooding, as was the case around the county.
In Lytle, local Wildlife Biologist Matt Reidy has recorded approximately 24.23 inches this year so far, with over 11.5 inches falling during the last week (including 5.2 inches from 3 AM to 8 AM on Sunday).
Another car drove into flood waters over FM 471 S and stalled out about a quarter mile outside LaCoste around 9:45, according to LaCoste Fire Chief Joe Wells.
Crews responded to a water rescues in northern Medina County in the area of CR 2615 and CR 371. “We were coming in from the front,” said Castroville Chief Rick Lair, “and I called Mico to come in from the backside.”
Thankfully Mico VFD Chief Mike Tudor was actually already in the area, knowing the dangers of flooding along that county road.
“I was headed to the station and intentionally took that route just to investigate the roadway. I found an 18-year-old male stuck inside a Toyota Sedan in about 2-3 feet of rushing water,” Chief Tudor said. “It actually moved the young man’s car and turned it perpendicular to the road after we got him out of the car. We thought it was going to wash down into the creek, but it never did. CR 2615 was impassible with high water in numerous spots. We had a lot of rain in just a couple hours and the ground was already saturated, and we had water over roads in places we never had before. Hopefully this is a lesson learned for everybody. Never underestimate water over the roadway.”
Yet another call came into the Medina County Sheriff’s dispatch for a driver who went around a barricade at CR 4516 at Quihi Creek, but it was cancelled while emergency crews were in route as were many other calls.
In Frio County, Moore VFD also responded to a high water rescue in Moore and conducted several evacuations of homes in Moore as well. See separate article.
