At least 5 dead, 2 missing after torrential rain floods San Antonio

CNN Meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Brandon Miller, Amanda Musa, CNN

(CNN) — At least five people are dead and two others are missing after several vehicles were swept away during flash flooding in San Antonio, Texas, triggered by heavy rains the area has not seen in more than a decade.

The deaths occurred early Thursday morning in northeastern San Antonio, near the city’s Perrin Beitel neighborhood, according to the San Antonio Fire Department.

Water rescue calls started just after 5:00 a.m. CDT for the area, which is near the northeast loop of Interstate 410, Joe Arrington, the department’s public information officer, told CNN.

Fifteen vehicles were swept away, and 10 people were rescued from trees and bushes about one mile from where they entered the water, according to Arrington. Four of the people rescued needed treatment for minor injuries.

A search is ongoing for the two missing who are thought to have been swept away in the flooding, Arrington added. The fire department has responded to at least 70 water rescues in the city since early Thursday morning, according to Arrington.

“While the majority of the water rescue responses were not severe in nature and consisted of our crews assisting drivers from vehicles that were stalled in high water, several of these calls were harrowing and involved our crews entering swift-moving water to effect rescues,” Arrington said Thursday evening.

The San Antonio River rose extremely quickly in the vicinity of the deadly flooding Thursday. Water levels went from about 3 feet to just over 25 feet in just two hours beginning at around 5 a.m. CDT—a rate comparable to flooding from tropical systems.

The rain had eased up in the area and flooding was slowly starting to recede by mid-morning, Arrington said, noting there are still some reports of cars stuck in high water, “but no more swift or moving water rescue calls.”

San Antonio received 5.6 inches of rain in just three hours shortly after midnight — nearly 4 inches of that rain fell in a single hour.

The city typically records just over 3 inches of rain in all of June, so more than a month’s worth of rain fell in just 60 minutes. That hour-long deluge represents between a 1-in-50 and 1-in-100 year rainfall event – meaning it only has about a 1 to 2% chance of occurring in any year.

Thursday has already become San Antonio’s second-wettest June day on record and the seventh-wettest single day since 1942, with just over 6 inches of rain since midnight. April 25, 2013, is the only day in recent memory that saw more: nearly 10 inches.

Farther east, in Victoria, Texas, authorities have responded to around 25 calls of motorists stranded by flash flooding, county Emergency Management Coordinator Rick McBrayer told CNN.

No injuries have been reported in Victoria. Floodwater is starting to recede on roadways, but river flooding is an ongoing concern Thursday, McBrayer said, urging residents to “stay where you’re at through the duration of this event.”

A world warming due to fossil fuel pollution is tipping the scales toward more heavy rainfall events like this. Hourly rainfall rates have intensified in nearly 90% of large US cities since 1970, a recent study found.

A warmer atmosphere as a result of climate change is capable of soaking up more moisture like a sponge and wringing it out in the form of gushing rainfall, which can easily create dangerous or deadly flooding.

Texas at risk of more flooding

Heavy rain was ongoing south of San Antonio and just north of Corpus Christi Thursday afternoon, with multiple flash flood warnings in effect.

A level 3-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall is in place for parts of eastern Texas, including the cities of Houston, Galveston and Victoria, according to the Weather Prediction Center. The heaviest rain moved out of the Houston area by mid-afternoon, but continued to drench areas farther west.

Rainfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour are possible in the heaviest storms until the widespread stormy weather starts to wrap up later in the afternoon, the WPC warned.

The flood threat will persist for some locations even after the rain ends. Portions of Leon Creek and Salado Creek near San Antonio are at major flood stage – meaning extensive flooding is possible for nearby areas – and are forecast to remain at that level into Thursday night before slowly receding.

Multiple rivers from south of San Antonio and east to the Gulf are forecast to reach minor or moderate flood stage Thursday night and some – including the San Antonio, San Bernard and Guadalupe rivers – will take until the weekend to recede back to normal levels.

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CNN’s Jeremy Grisham and Ritu Prasad contributed to this report.