North Texas still coping with aftermath of weekend storms

Commuters can expect a few sprinkles of rain Monday morning and a break from dreary weather by Tuesday, when sunny skies are expected to end the dangerously wet month for North Texas.

Fort Worth Fire Department dive crews Monday morning will again assess water levels at Deer Creek in southern Tarrant County to determine whether search efforts can safely begin for a missing 76-year-old woman, one of several North Texans lost to the storms.

Heavy current, visibility and debris are hampering divers in their search for Zenola Jenkins of Burleson, who was swept into the creek by flash floods about 1 a.m. Friday.

“Conditions for putting divers in the water is far too risky at this point,” fire department spokesman Kyle Clay said Sunday evening.

Two men were found dead in Johnson County Friday, and a third victim was found in Garland the same day.

“Drivers should still take caution of any water still on the road,” said Jamie Gudmestad at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. “It is receding, but some places got so much rain it’s going to take a while to fully recede.”

Overflowing sewers

Flooding has caused sewers to overflow from manholes at seven locations in Fort Worth, spokeswoman Mary Gugliuzza said Sunday evening. None threatened city drinking water, she said. The overflows are caused when rainwater enters sewer pipes through cracks.

According to a release from Gugliuzza, the wastewater is heavily diluted because of the large amount of rain.

The city is required by the state Commission on Environmental Quality to notify the media and public officials when discharges occur.

The locations are: 200 NW 26th St., 1989 Colonial Parkway, 2100 Glen Garden Drive, 5600 Kaltenbrun St., 1400 Elva Warren St. in Fort Worth, 1500 S. University Drive and 500 Greenway Park Drive.

She said the areas are barricaded for safety when necessary.

River flood warnings

Elsewhere in the area:

▪ Nine high school football playoff games have been moved to Monday because of weather. Many are West Texas teams, but three area teams are affected: Denton Ryan, Burleson Centennial and Everman.

▪ The Vineyards Campground & Cabins in Grapevine was closed again Saturday, four days after reopening after a six-month shutdown from spring floods.

▪ A river flood warning remains in effect for several rivers in and around Tarrant County, including the Trinity River and its west fork. Twelve different areas of the Trinity River fall under the warning.

“Those could take days or weeks to go down,” Gudmestad said.

▪ Lake Worth and Eagle Mountain Lake are closed to boating.

Records broken

This month, with 9.84 inches of rain measured at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, was the wettest November since 1918. The old record was 7.94 inches.

Sunday’s rain brought the total to 58.76 inches for the year. The old record, 53.50 inches established in 1991, was broken on Friday morning.

From Thanksgiving until 8 p.m. Sunday, the airport recorded 8.01 inches of rain, according to the weather service.

Monday will start with a low in the 40s and warm up to a high in the mid-50s, Gudmestad said.

The sun should return by Tuesday with a warming trend and highs in the mid- to upper 50s.

The next chance for rain is 20 percent on Saturday.

Staff writers Mark David Smith and Marty Sabota and editor Patrick M. Walker contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press.

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 11:57 AM with the headline "North Texas still coping with aftermath of weekend storms."