WilCo: air rescues, submerged RV park

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - By Wednesday afternoon, water was still tearing across Highway 29 in Williamson County. Emergency crews rescued four people there and nine people in neighboring Bell County.

Crews were still searching by air for potential missing persons, as Phillip West stood along the highway watching the San Gabriel River recede from where his house once stood.

"We waded in water neck deep all the way up here,” West said.

Managers at the Shady River RV Resort just east of Georgetown woke their residents up mid-morning and told them to evacuate as the water spilled into the site. West said, before he had a chance to gather his belongings, waves were already lapping at his front porch.

"I lost everything,” he said. “Wallet, credit cards, you name it. It’s gone."

His neighbor Hattie Hill said, while the river often floods, this was the worst she had ever see it.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Hill said. “I looked out and saw my dog standing on top of the dog house as the water came up.”

Farther down the road, the water was too deep for traffic to pass. With cows sounding over the rush of the current, one landowner, John Miles, surveyed the tiny islands once part of his pasture.

"We could see a couple of dead cows over there,” Miles said.

Just yards away, the bumper of a vehicle clung to a power pole. Earlier that morning, it was the scene of a swift water rescue. Crews were able to grab the driver of a stalled truck and bring him to land.

Back at the RV resort, neighbors helped each other escape what took some of their homes completely. Officials said everyone there made it out safely.

"(We’re) just praying that everybody and everything is ok," said Hill.