Oklahoma first responders join rescue efforts as deadly Texas floods claim more lives

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklah. — Deadly flooding in Texas has prompted another wave of Oklahoma first responders to head south to help with rescue and recovery efforts as the death toll continues to rise.

Days of relentless rain have battered the Texas Hill Country, an area often called “Flash Flood Valley,” turning rivers into violent torrents that ripped out trees, washed away roads, and left communities underwater.

In Kerr County, floodwaters tore apart a roadway, leaving twisted pavement and debris behind.

The devastation comes one year after catastrophic flooding that claimed more than 130 lives across Texas.

Hundreds of rescue crews from across the nation have mobilized to Texas, including teams from Oklahoma and the United Cajun Navy, to save lives and limit further loss.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management deployed 25 members of Oklahoma Task Force One to Texas. Brad Smith, an Oklahoma Task Force leader, said, “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. We know what to expect.”

By Thursday, another Oklahoma team rolled south, made up of Oklahoma City firefighters, an Oklahoma City police officer and members of the Yukon Fire Department. Guymon’s specialized swiftwater search and rescue team also responded. “This is a highly trained group of people, very experienced,” Smith said. “We’ve been to out-of-state deployments on this type of thing before and feel very confident in the type of work we’ll be expected to do down there.”

The crews are joining a growing interstate response centered in the Texas Hill Country, now the epicenter of the flooding disaster.

Amy Metz, chief meteorologist with the United Cajun Navy, described the intensity of the flooding and the challenges it has created for rescuers. “They couldn’t get boats to somebody who was submerged in a vehicle in a tree, and so I did hear later after about an hour and a half there were able to get that man to safety,” Metz said.

Metz also described damage caused by the force of the water. “It picked up a barge, one that was there to do some cleanup from last year’s floods, got lifted and thrown down the dam probably a half mile up to a mile away, crashing into a bridge that is now gone,” she said.

At least two people have died, and more than 200 people have been rescued.

Several rounds of slow-moving thunderstorms during the past two days have flooded six Texas counties.

Metz said the rainfall totals have been extreme. “Since Monday, the Hill Country has seen at least 20 inches of rain. That could very well have gone up to 30 in some places and with it river rise. The gauges did show within one hour it shot up 25 feet,” she said.

Metz said the United Cajun Navy is prepared to help with boat ferry deliveries and highway cleanup with chainsaws once flooding subsides.