Brazos River flooding ‘is the worst I’ve seen’ in Horseshoe Bend

Elizabeth and Tim Jenkins woke up Wednesday morning surrounded by water.

Overnight, the Brazos River had crept under their home in Horseshoe Bend, a flood-prone community in Parker County.

“This is the worst I’ve seen,” Elizabeth Jenkins said. “Our house is on stilts but it’s within four feet of the front door. We’ve lost our car and everything that was outside. It’s all been washed away.”

The couple, Horseshoe Bend residents for eight years, were cut off from the rest of the rural subdivision and had to be rescued by boat shortly before noon Wednesday as the river continues to surge.

The river had risen to 25.6 feet at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Dennis gauge near Horseshoe Bend, and forecasters are projecting it to crest at 28.9 feet on Thursday. Moderate flooding occurs at 25 feet and major flooding at 27 feet.

Parker County spokesman Joel Kertok said officials fear that more rain will send the river even higher than expected.

There’s a 70 percent chance of rain in North Texas on Thursday and 50 percent on Friday and Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

“It could get worse,” Kertok said.

The heavy rainfall across North Texas is forcing the Brazos River Authority to release water from Possum Kingdom Lake into the Brazos. From the lake, the Brazos snakes through Parker and Hood counties before reaching Lake Granbury, where floodgates are also open.

An emergency management worker with Johnson County tweeted that the Brazos is running so fast and high that “it’s floating 1000lb haybales down river!”

Other lakes in the region, including Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain and Lake Worth, are also at capacity but not flooding now.

Granbury: Recovering from flood

In Granbury, Katie Cullom, 14, was home alone on Tuesday when the water began quickly rising in her first-floor apartment at The Woods complex.

“The water was as high as the second stair,” Cullom said Wednesday morning as her mom and sister visited a temporary American Red Cross shelter in Granbury to inquire about a place to stay until the damage can be fixed.

About 28 ground-floor apartments were vacated at The Woods complex on Pearl Street, residents and Red Cross workers said.

Cullom and her family were able to get a hotel room Tuesday night. They aren’t sure what they will do for accommodations the rest of the week, Cullom’s mom, Trina Cullom, said.

The water didn’t come through the front door but instead seeped into the apartment through the flooring, said Megan DeBerry, 21, Katie Cullom’s sister.

Another resident, Johnny Robbins, slept in a neighbor’s second-floor apartment along with his wife and 1-month-old baby. But they need alternative arrangements for the rest of the week.

“I’m trying to find someplace to go today,” said Robbins, who recently worked as a welder and moved to the area from Indiana nine months ago to find work. “Plus, I’d like to find out where to put our stuff. We just bought a bunch of stuff for the baby.”

The American Red Cross set up a shelter at a conference center at 600 W. Bridge St. in Granbury. No one visited the shelter overnight in search of accommodations, spokeswoman Anita Foster said.

A handful of residents from The Woods Apartments visited the shelter Wednesday morning to inquire about a place to stay until the floodwaters fully recede, possibly by early next week.

“With more rain coming, the shelter will stay open for a while longer,” Foster said.

Horseshoe Bend: ‘Could be a total disaster’

Residents in Horseshoe Bend, which is built in a floodplain, continue to express frustration with the Brazos River Authority and how it manages Possum Kingdom Lake and Lake Granbury.

The projected crest of 28.8 feet is short of the all-time flood of 31.9 feet but will be enough to cause serious problems, those who live in the area said.

About 600 homes are expected to flood, officials said.

“We already have three feet of water at my house,” Bart Salter said. “I think in 11 months this is our seventh flood. I think this will be the worst. Water is going to be in my house. I’m moving all of my furniture upstairs.”

Salter was upset that the river authority scaled back releases at Lake Granbury overnight.

The Brazos River Authority insists that releases at Lake Granbury do not impact flooding in Horseshoe Bend but Salter and other residents don’t believe it.

“The water can’t get around the bend fast enough,” Salter said. “When they cut the flow, it back ups into our neighborhood.”

Judi Pierce, a Brazos River Authority spokeswoman, said the BRA’s staff is analyzing stream flows and will eventually have to open a third gate at Possum Kingdom.

“They’re holding off as long as they can,” Pierce said. “There’s a lot more water out there.”

About 35 percent of the flow of the Brazos is coming from Possum Kingdom. The rest is runoff from the rain, she said.

‘Flooding from here to Houston’

Donna Faulkner lived in Horseshoe Bend during the 1990 flood.

“It will become an island in here but we should be OK,” Faulkner said. “You’ve got to stay in case looters get in here.”

While many residents were spouting conspiracy theories about the Brazos River Authority and its release of water from Possum Kingdom and Lake Granbury, her husband, Jack Faulkner, was not one of them.

“I’m not suspicious of the BRA because it’s flooding all over Texas,” Jack Faulkner said. “It’s not just us. How can you complain when it’s flooding from here to Houston?”

The water came up so fast that Joyce Bosley was forced out of her home on Tuesday along Chavez Street in Horseshoe Bend.

“I had to get out while I could,” Bosley said. “There’s a low spot near my house that’s got 8 feet of water right now and there’s debris everywhere.”

Bosley said most of her possessions should survive the flood but it will be a mess of mud and debris when she gets back home.

“But I love it here,” Bosley said. “I love living by the water and away from everything. Nobody bothers you out here.”

Rio Brazos Estates: ‘The worst one’

Downstream from Horseshoe Bend, Lauren Thomas was standing about 100 yards from the Brazos River with no way to get home.

Between her and her small picturesque house in Rio Brazos Estates, about halfway between Weatherford and Granbury, was a pool of water blocking her path.

“I’ve 2 to 3 feet of water in the first floor of my house,” Thomas said. “It’s been there since yesterday.”

All of her belongings are on the second floor of the small stone house, where they’ve been for months.

“I’ never took them down,” Thomas said. “This in the fifth time it’s flooded in the last year and it will probably turn out to be the worst one.”

Nearby, the current of the Brazos was swift, with debris and buoys racing just a few feet from her home.

Next door, where her parents now live, was dry. Her grandfather had built that house a foot higher than the record flood.

“If it gets wet in that house, everything around here will be gone,” Thomas said.

Glen Rose: ‘Never seen it that high’

In Glen Rose, residents and tourists marveled as the flood-swollen Paluxy River raged through the city’s Big Rocks Park. The climbing rocks, which are normally 10 to 15 feet high, were nearly completely covered by fast-moving, creamed-coffee-brown water running from nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park.

The Paluxy River, also sometimes called Paluxy Creek, merges with the Brazos River east of Glen Rose.

The River is normally only about 25 feet wide but on Wednesday ran three times that width through Glen Rose. The river gushed with debris, including entire mature trees that careened over the no-longer-visible concrete dam like harmless driftwood. Currents resembling whitewater rapids formed downstream of the dam.

“I have never seen it that high,” said Glen Rose resident Morgan Rushing, who visited the park with son Will and daughter Sunshine. “People normally climb on those rocks, and swim in the water.”

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Brazos River flooding ‘is the worst I’ve seen’ in Horseshoe Bend."