More rain threatens US flood clean-up

Shouldn't take a flood. More to adopt across the US. - http://t.co/oEApl285P4 via @mashable

— LewisG (@lewisgprod) May 27, 2015

Crews resumed the search for 11 people missing and presumed dead after the swollen Blanco River surged through the small tourist town of Wimberley, between San Antonio and Austin. Houston mayor Annise Parker said two people whose boat capsized during a rescue effort were also missing.

Authorities, meanwhile, defended their warnings to residents ahead of the weather, which included alerts via phone and in person, but acknowledged the difficulty in reaching tourists and said a messaging system in Houston needs improvements.

Purcell EMA tells us 28 homes were evacuated this morning, and 2 mobile homes floated away in flood waters pic.twitter.com/oDpFSWJEET

— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) May 24, 2015

“Nobody was saying, ’Get out! Get out! Get out!”’ said Brenda Morton, of Wimberley. She said longtime residents know the risks, but “people who were visiting or had summer homes, you have company from out of town, you don’t know. You don’t know when that instant is.”

Ms Morton lives three houses down from a two-storey holiday home that authorities say was swept off its 10-foot pylons by a wall of water early on Sunday morning with eight people inside, including three children ages six and four. The house slammed into a bridge after being carried downstream on the Blanco. All eight people were missing.

Authorities in surrounding Hays County said warnings included multiple mobile phone alerts and calls to landlines. Some received in-person warnings to evacuate, but officials could not say whether those in the washed-away home talked to police.

“Law enforcement made notification along that street. Whether they made contact with somebody at their residence, I can’t say,” Hays County emergency management co-ordinator Kharley Smith said.

Wimberley is a popular bed-and-breakfast getaway near Austin that is surrounded by vineyards. Officials acknowledged that their electronic alerts may not reach tourists.

Hays County commissioner Will Conley said: “Most definitely, most definitely that will certainly be part of our discussion.”

In Houston, warnings from the National Weather Service buzzed on mobile phones, but city officials say they have not installed a system that would allow them to alert residents with more targeted warnings.

The city is still working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get that system running, said Michael Walter, spokesman for Houston’s Office of Emergency Management.

Floodwaters in Houston affected virtually every part of the city and paralysed some areas. Firefighters carried out more than 500 water rescues, most involving stranded motorists. At least 2,500 vehicles were abandoned by drivers, and up to 700 Houston-area homes were damaged, officials said.

More than 100,000 gallons of sewage spilled yesterday from a flooded-out Houston treatment plant, officials said. They said that the spill was contained and that residents do not have to boil their water, but they should not swim in areas around the plant.

The death toll stood at 13 in Texas and four in Oklahoma.

The deaths in Texas included a man whose body was pulled from the Blanco; a 14-year-old who was found with his dog in a storm drain; a high school student who died on Saturday after her car was caught in high water; and a man whose mobile home was destroyed by a reported tornado.

The drenching rain threatened to linger. National Weather Service forecasts called for a 20 to 40 percent chance of thunderstorms through the rest of the week in Houston, and more storms were also in store for central Texas.