The National Weather Service confirmed both the Llano and Colorado rivers in Kingsland, Texas were experiencing “major flooding” on Tuesday.
A body was found in the rain-swollen Lake Lyndon B. Johnson, where the Llano runs into Colorado, after a bridge was destroyed.
This resulted in residents being evacuated from their homes in Kingsland and Marble Falls, due to the overflowing Colorado River.
Several schools were closed for the day while emergency services blocked access to more than 150 low-water crossings.
Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement urging “all Texans to take their safety into their own hands by closely monitoring changing weather conditions and heeding warnings from
local officials.”
His warning came only a week after four people were washed away when the South Llano River, which becomes the Llano River downstream, burst its banks into an RV park in
Junction, Texas.
Three bodies were found and a search for a fourth has been suspended due to this week’s torrential rain.
Burnet County Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Dillard said the body found yesterday is not being linked to the person still missing from the RV park, which is along the South Llano River about
90 miles away.
Water levels along the Llano River at Llano have slowly decreasing, but are still “well above” major flood stage.
Yesterday, the levels rose to just around 40 feet settled later in the morning at around 35 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
The service added the levels are still at around 23 feet, with the river not expected to drop below that stage until later today.
Patricia Sanchez, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said changing season from Autumn to winter tend to result in higher levels of rainfall.
However, there have been unusual levels of rain over the last month.
Ms Sanchez said: ”The ongoing multiple days of rain and the extraordinary amount is of course not normal, not for this time of year.”
Recent tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico have added to the amount of rain Texas has seen.
Moderate rain should continue over the next couple of days but ease off as the weekend approaches, Ms Sanchez added.