New Braunfels deals with river rescues, evacuations, flooding

Crews evacuated people along Guadalupe Tuesday afternoon after flooding

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Residents of water-logged New Braunfels battled all kinds of weather issues Tuesday during the storms: river rescues, flooding, and high lake levels, just to name a few.

Eventually those raging rapids caused the Comal County Sheriff's Office to call for a mandatory evacuation along the rising river.

"They just came up and down the road driving telling everybody to get out," said evacuee Pete Cloutier.
Flooded streets kept Cloutier from getting home Tuesday afternoon. He showed KSAT floodwaters rising up around the trailers on his river property.

"I can't get to it cause it's flooded out," he said.

The same powerful waters pulled a woman into the river earlier Tuesday. Search crews were out looking for her for a couple of hours but a resident was eventually able to pull her to safety.

Heavy and continuous rain filled Canyon Lake as well. The lake has risen about 10 feet over the typical pool level of 909 feet, and was spilling into the surrounding areas. Since Monday evening the Army Corps of Engineers have been releasing extra water from the dam.

Back along the Guadalupe River, evacuees could only do one thing: Wait.

"Hoping the water's going to go down, and we can go back and get the trailers out before they get taken away," Cloutier said.

He and many others are hoping Mother Nature will give them a break to regroup before the next storm.

For those hoping the high waters would be good for tubing, don't plan on it. Those rapids still have the Guadalupe closed to recreation.


About the Author:

Courtney Friedman anchors KSAT’s weekend evening shows and reports during the week. Her ongoing Loving in Fear series confronts Bexar County’s domestic violence epidemic. She joined KSAT in 2014 and is proud to call the SA and South Texas community home. She came to San Antonio from KYTX CBS 19 in Tyler, where she also anchored & reported.