‘State of disaster’ declared for Dallas County after heavy rainfall causes extensive flooding | Houston Public Media

Dallas County Choose Clay Jenkins declared a state of catastrophe late Monday afternoon after torrential rainfall flooded properties in Balch Springs and Dallas, stranded dozens of motorists on streets and highways that seemed extra like canals and delayed air site visitors at native airports.

“Primarily based on preliminary injury assessments, I’m declaring a state of catastrophe in Dallas County and requesting state and federal help for affected people,” Jenkins tweeted shortly earlier than 5 p.m. Monday. “There are thresholds that should be met for every sort of help.”

He requested Dallas County residents to “report your injury” at injury.tdem.texas.gov.

Jenkins additionally reported Dallas County’s first demise associated to the storm a number of hours earlier on Twitter.

“A 60-year-old girl was killed when her car was swept away by flood waters,” he wrote. “Please hold her husband and household in your prayers.”

That demise apparently occurred in Mesquite, the place the fireplace division reported that the physique of a girl was found inside a automobile underneath a bridge. Hearth officers instructed reporters that her automobile might have been swept off a close-by street.

Jenkins warned in his tweet that “even lower than and inch of water on roadways may cause the lack of management of a car.”

Many water-related emergencies have been reported late Sunday night time and into the early morning Monday.

The Fort Price Hearth Division responded to 133 excessive water calls between 10 p.m. Sunday and 11:30 a.m. Monday.

Most of the calls stemmed from vehicles that stalled out or have been swept away within the deluge, says division spokesperson Craig Trojacek.

“We haven’t hit too huge of a crucial level, however it’s all fingers on deck at this cut-off date,” Trojacek stated.

Dallas Hearth-Rescue instructed KERA they responded to 141 water-related emergencies as of roughly 8 a.m. Monday— 96 high-water incidents, 40 water rescues with no boat and 5 water rescues with a ship. Movies on social media documented a number of rescues.

Flooding compelled many North Texas residents out of their properties, together with residence residents in Dallas and householders in Balch Springs.

Throughout the metroplex, native governments and first responders continued to grapple with the after-effects of the heavy rainfall all through the day.

Dallas Water Utilities reported Monday afternoon that the the rain had trigger “sanitary sewer overflows at a number of areas all through town.”

“Not one of the overflows of diluted wastewater have affected the Metropolis’s water provide,” stated DWU Assistant Director Zachary Peoples.

However metropolis officers urged folks utilizing wells for his or her consuming water inside a half-mile of the spill websites to “use solely water that has been distilled or boiled at a rolling boil for not less than one minute for all private makes use of together with consuming, cooking, bathing and tooth brushing.”

Climate situations delayed greater than 450 flights out and in of DFW Worldwide Airport, and cancelled least 120 extra. A minimum of 60 have been cancelled at Dallas Love Discipline. The variety of delays decreased considerably because the day progressed.

Energy outages additionally have been reported all through the Dallas-Fort Price space. As of 8:22 p.m. Monday, Oncor, an vitality provide firm, was nonetheless reporting that 1,337 prospects in Dallas County and seven,506 prospects in Tarrant County have been affected by outages.

Juan Reyes, a spokesperson for Oncor, stated crews had been out since earlier than the storms rolled in Sunday night time to assist restore energy.

“We did have crews pre-positioned forward of the storm able to make the required repairs so that they’re going to work as shortly and safely as potential,” he stated Monday.

The Texas Tribune reported that “the rainfall in some areas qualifies as a 1-in-1,000-year flood, which signifies that in any given yr it has a 0.1% probability of taking place.

The Tribune additionally reported that “the east facet of Dallas acquired 13 to fifteen inches of rainfall over the previous 24 hours, in accordance with a studying from Dallas Water Utilities,” and that “many of the Dallas-Fort Price space recorded 6 to 10 inches of rainfall.”

On Tuesday, the prospect of thunderstorms in North Texas is 40% with in any other case partly sunny skies anticipated.