Boerne first responders initiated three high-water vehicle rescues Wednesday morning, as 9-10 inches of rain — including 3.5 inches in just one hour — created dangerous flooding conditions citywide.
The Herff-River Road intersection more resembled raging rapids as water two and three feet deep swept down River Road and inundated the intersection by 9:30 a.m., severing a main passage to town along Texas 46 East into Boerne.
At a Wednesday press conference, Boerne Police Chief Steve Perez said police dispatch logged 109 calls for service, resulting in 36 rescue calls, including the three vehicle rescues.
“All of this started a little before 8 a.m. We experienced heavy rains until about 2:45 p.m.,” Perez said. “We’ve had a little over 9 or 10 inches of rain in our area.”
That rain pushed Cibolo Creek up and out of its banks to a record 22.63 feet at the gauge at the Cibolo Nature Center.
Perez said response teams moved 53 people to the Boerne Independent School District central office, which was being used as a shelter during the day, he said,
Of those 53, 30 were evacuated from The Trails at River Road Apartments. The chief said evacuation began early enough that people were still able to drive and exit the property on their own.
“But floodwaters rise quickly and we got to the point where we could no longer get to those folks,” he said. “We were getting reports that water was coming in through some of the first-floor apartments. So, we were telling them just to get to higher ground.”
Boerne was hit with 4-6 inches of rain on July13, according to city spokesman Chris Shadrock, saturating the ground enough that city officials knew they got much more rain, they would see the potential for flooding.
They did, and they did.
“A front was headed our way with the potential for record rainfall. That gave us a head start,” Shadrock said. “Our emergency crews began staging and were ready to go. Its swift water rescue team was on standby, geared up and waited.”
That preparation “allowed us to collaborate and anticipate the need, so we were not scrambling when the water began to rise,” Shadrock said.
The Boerne Utilities Department and Streets and Parks staff, he said, were prepared for service they knew was likely to come.
City leadership reached out to its community partners, the Boerne Independent School District, and the Kendall County Emergency Management team among them, “to make sure everybody was on the same page,” he said, producing “a coordinated, timely response focused on protecting lives and property.
“By sharing information, coordinating resources and making decisions, we have been able to respond quickly as conditions changed rapidly,” he added.
Perez urged motorists to pay attention to road barricades blocking traffic. Many were removed once the rains stopped falling and floodwaters receded, in order to allow traffic to resume a natural flow, he said.
“Obey the barricades, don’t go around them. They are there for a reason,” he said. Street crews and officers will remain in the field, assessing road damage and clearing debris.
