A man and a woman were stranded early Monday morning after floodwaters swept their vehicle downstream in Kimble County, and members of the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team pulled them to safety. The rescue came as the Llano River near Junction climbed above flood stage, part of a round of heavy rain moving through the Texas Hill Country.
Texas Game Wardens announced the rescue in a social media post, writing that “earlier this morning, members of the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team rescued a man and woman who had been stranded after their vehicle was swept downstream by floodwaters in Kimble County,” according to Texas Game Wardens
. The agency, the law enforcement division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, did not release further details about the pair's condition or the exact circumstances of the rescue.
Along with the announcement, wardens repeated a warning they issue often during flood season: “Never attempt to drive through flooded roadways. Turn Around, Don't Drown.” The caution lines up with conditions on the ground — a flood warning covering the Llano River near Junction and affecting Kimble County was in effect from 5:09 p.m. Monday until 10 a.m. Tuesday, according to a flood-warning page attributing the alert to the National Weather Service office in San Angelo, as reported by defconlevel.com.
River Levels Climbing Past Flood Stage
At 4:45 p.m. Monday, the Llano River near Junction was already running at 16.1 feet, just above its 16-foot flood stage, per the same flood-warning page. Forecasters expected the river to keep rising to a crest of 19.1 feet that evening before falling back below flood stage later that night.
A separate NOAA gauge page for the Junction stretch of the Llano River notes that at 31 feet, major flooding would occur, with numerous roads and low-water crossings flooded and impassable and structures along the river flooded as well, according to water.noaa.gov. That threshold description does not indicate when, or whether, such a level was expected during this particular rise.
A Similar Scene Played Out in Lampasas County
Flooding has forced similar rescues elsewhere in Central Texas recently. In Lampasas County, heavy rain pushed the Lampasas River from its normal level of 10 feet up to a dangerously high 33 feet on a Sunday, according to KCEN. The surge there prompted the Kempner Volunteer Fire Department to close several low-water crossings and order evacuations for elderly residents at an apartment complex and two RV parks in the county.
During that Lampasas County flooding, Texas Game Wardens and local officials rescued a man and woman whose vehicle was swept nearly a mile downstream after floodwaters forced the car into a culvert beneath railroad tracks, fully submerging it, the station's report states. Rescuers found the man holding onto a tree about 15 feet above the water, while the woman was located holding another tree less than 100 yards farther downstream.
Wardens Keep Pushing the Same Warning
Texas Game Wardens have repeated versions of the same message throughout the fall as storms have rolled through the Hill Country. In an earlier post, the agency said overnight storms had brought heavy rainfall and that search and rescue teams were actively conducting rescues across the region, with additional boat crews headed to affected areas. Monday's Kimble County rescue fits that pattern of wardens responding as rivers rise fast and roads turn into fast-moving water with little warning for drivers who misjudge a crossing.
