High Water & Flooding Widespread Across Dallas County
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DALLAS COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Flooding in the City of Dallas and Dallas County is widespread.
High water has completely shutdown Loop 12 between Interstate-20 and Shady Grove Road. The area under Interstate-30 became impassable around 4:30 Friday morning and thousands of stranded drivers were still on the waterlogged road at lunchtime. Many people stood outside of their cars watching the still water.
Driver Marilyn Hart can't believe this is happening in North Texas. "I feel like I'm in Louisiana or wherever that hurricane came through the last time they had one. This is the first time I've ever seen this. I mean I was at a standstill, as a matter of fact I thought it was like a major accident or something like that. Once I creeped up a little bit further and it's a freaking pool out here -- five feet of water."
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) had a crane dispatched to the scene at I-30 and Loop 12.
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Time Lapse - Crane Removes Barricade; Traffic Detours Around Flood
Around 11:40 a.m. the construction vehicle removed several of the concrete barriers that divide the highway. Stranded motorists on southbound Loop 12 were then allowed to make a u-turn onto northbound Loop 12 and exit the area. Snarled traffic was still turning around and unwinding at noontime. Loop 12 in both directions will remain closed.
TxDOT crews are also evaluating the conditions on Loop 12 to determine if options exist to drain the water from the roadway.
♦♦♦ Check The Latest Traffic Conditions ♦♦♦
Rising water also caused a second evacuation at a mobile home park in Grand Prairie. The Willow Bend Mobile Home Park is in the 6000 block of East Main Street. This past weekend firefighters went door-to-door alerting residents about rising water. Today dozens of mobile homes and cars sat in what's believed to be several feet of water. Runoff from Mountain Creek Lake flows through a creek next to the park.
In west Dallas, at one time early Friday morning the intersection at Northwest Highway and Walton Walker was completely underwater. A police officer who got stuck in the high water said members of the Dallas Police Department had pulled dozens of people out of vehicles at the location alone.
Further north in the city, at Interstate-35E and Royal Lane, a Dallas Fire Rescue vehicle got stuck while on the way to a high-water location.
Tow truck drivers are pulling stranded vehicles out of deep water all over the city. Officials say there are not enough public safety or street crew personnel to block off all the dangerous intersections.
Police are saying the conditions are simply overwhelming.
Officials at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport have closed Runway 18L because rain is hampering repairs on a sinkhole there. A 25 feet long and 25 feet wide sinkhole opened up Tuesday and today officials a the airport said the continuing rain collapsed the storm drain that workers were repairing to address the hole.
On a street in Garland where homeowners historically measure flooding by the inch, water rose by the foot. Cars stalled, and high water carried them away like toys. One resident said water in the neighborhood "was like a rushing river."
Duck Creek moved out its banks and into the home of Billy Mack and Garland District 5 City Council member Bobbie Williams. With water all the way up to the kitchen countertops, Williams climbed into the attic. "When the doors busted open, I thought it was all over," he said. "It's not fun watching your stuff float around."
According to Williams, at least a dozen homes on his street are waterlogged.
Fire crews in Grand Prairie also had to evacuate residents at the Fox Hollow Apartments, in the 1000 block of South Beltline Road. Water in the area rose so high that first-floor units at the complex were flooded.
Some residents had to climb out of windows, because the water was so high and pressure so forceful they couldn't open their front doors. Firefighters from the Grand Prairie Fire Department carried several people to safety.
One person in the apartment parking lot early Friday morning said, "All these cars were underwater. I had went over here to check up on my friend and I'm talking 'bout, the water had risen up to my neck! That was very scary."
The Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Tony Shotwell Life Center, located at 2750 Graham Street, to help Grand Prairie residents impacted by flood waters.
Officials with the City of Dallas Emergency Operations Center said they are at Level 3 (Monitoring Status) and are helping multiple City departments coordinate response to Dallas area flooding.
In a statement sent Friday morning officials said -
"We continue to be in close contact with the National Weather Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Trinity Watershed Management Department to prepare for any impacts or river flooding as a result of this recent rainfall. A Flood Warning remains in effect for both the Trinity River and White Rock Creek, however, our Flood Control system continues to operate as designed to protect citizens from flood waters."
The City of Dallas received about 6.8 inches of rain in northeast Dallas overnight. The lowest rain total in the City was 1.5 inches in far south Dallas.
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