Body found in midst of flooding

Heavy rainfall under the cover of darkness resulted in an image many Llano residents had never seen before and will likely never forget. The Llano River crested at just below 40 feet on Tuesday shutting down the bridge for most of the day. 

By Wednesday morning the river was back down to about 12 and a half feet. The feared second crest overnight never happened.

“We were informed yesterday evening that indeed there would not be a second rise and that the Llano River would continue to drop,” said Ron Anderson, Llano Counry Emergency Management Coordinator.

Anderson and County Judge Mary Cunningham held a press conference Wednesday morning.  

The county is in the process of assessing the damage which Cunningham says includes flooded homes, damaged property and road problems.

And unfortunately one fatality.

“A body of an adult female was located near the low-water crossing at Sandstone and Flag Street,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham says they’re still investigating the death.

Brenda Robertson lives next to where the body was found.  

“I don’t know, it’s crazy.  It’s awful. You know I hate that.  It’s so sad to me,” she said.

Robertson says Flag Creek, which we were able to walk down into on Wednesday, looked very different in the worst of the flood.

“We took pictures of Flag Creek from here and it was flat across,” Robertson said.

As of Wednesday morning Anderson didn’t have an estimate of how many in the county were displaced.

“There is debris, homes that have been evacuated are going to have to be evaluated before we can say that they’re safe to re-enter,” he said.

With the help of HEB, the county is providing drinking water to residents. 

“We do have some municipal water systems that have been affected by the flooding and are unable to continue treating water. So those areas, and we’re really talking about the City of Llano and Kingsland, are unable to provide water at this point,” Anderson said.

An HEB truck was set up at Llano Junior High as people lined up to grab a pack of water bottles.

Llano County says they are accepting monetary donations as well as the Red Cross. As for the rain still on the way they’re reminding people to sign up for weather alerts on warncentraltexas.org