{"id":65565,"date":"2025-07-14T18:42:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T18:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/65565\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T18:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T18:42:18","slug":"judge-mitchell-updates-on-flood-response-as-rivers-swell-and-evacuation-efforts-intensify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/65565\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Mitchell updates on flood response as rivers swell and evacuation efforts intensify"},"content":{"rendered":"

UVALDE COUNTY, Texas \u2014 As floodwaters continued to rise across parts of Uvalde County Monday, County Judge William Mitchell gave an update on the situation, describing widespread river flooding, evacuation efforts, and the challenges of navigating a region swollen by relentless rainfall.<\/p>\n

Right now we’re experiencing some flooding throughout the county,\u201d Judge Mitchell said in a phone interview. \u201cEarlier this morning, it started on the Frio River, so we evacuated people off the Frio starting roughly around two, three o’clock in the morning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The first wave of evacuations occurred in the Concan area, a popular tourist destination along the Frio River. Mitchell estimated that between 150 and 200 people were safely moved out of the area. \u201cWe\u2019ve asked probably 200 to 300 [people] to get out of the jeopardy area, simply because we were anticipating it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: LIVE: Heavy rain triggers flash flooding across Hill Country as rivers rise<\/a><\/p>\n

Flooding has since spread west, where the Nueces River has begun to rise, prompting additional evacuations. \u201cIt’s not as high on the Nueces as on the Frio, but we’ve started evacuating people to get them to safe ground,\u201d Mitchell explained. \u201cAs well as the Sabinal River, as it comes to Utopia, is also on the rise. It\u2019s at flood stage as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evacuation Resistance Poses Risks<\/p>\n

Judge Mitchell acknowledged the emotional difficulty many residents face when asked to leave their homes.<\/p>\n

Evacuation is something that’s very difficult for people. They don\u2019t want to leave their homes. I understand that, but certainly, we don\u2019t want anybody to get hurt,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to put our first responders in a situation where we have to go back in and pull them out \u2014 and also put our first responders in jeopardy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Flooding in the Dark<\/p>\n

Much of the recent flooding has occurred overnight, making response efforts even more dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of this over the last two weeks or so has started out in the dark of night. It just makes things much more difficult to try and get out and certainly save lives,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cUnless you\u2019re from this part of the country, you don\u2019t know where you are. So many of these people are coming in, visiting these camps… they just don\u2019t know the terrain as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Camp Mystic tragedy: Delayed evacuation led to 27 dead amid historic flood, report says<\/a><\/p>\n

Daylight has helped residents assess the situation more clearly and, in some cases, evacuate voluntarily. \u201cIn daylight, it\u2019s much more easy for people to recognize the peril that they\u2019re in and go ahead and voluntarily get out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

State Parks, Utilities, and Recovery<\/p>\n

Mitchell praised the state\u2019s handling of visitors at Garner State Park: \u201cThe state has already done a good job in taking care of their guests inside that park.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this time, no widespread power outages have been reported. However, concerns remain about the safety of septic systems. \u201cMost of these places are on septic systems. Those have to be checked out and monitored by the private owner. You don’t know whether their system is safe and ready to be used again,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this part of the country, it floods, but the water goes down relatively quick as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Neighboring Counties and Texans Helping Texans<\/p>\n

When asked about nearby children’s camps in Real County, Mitchell clarified that those are outside his jurisdiction, but emphasized the spirit of regional cooperation. \u201cReal County\u2019s our neighbor, and we\u2019re here to help them. If we need to go up and assist Real County rescues, our first responders are ready to do that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for longer-term recovery, the judge said it’s too soon to know exactly what help will be needed. <\/p>\n

We really need to see what the damage is and the extent of what we may need before I can positively give you an answer to that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut should we need help, certainly \u2014 Texans have always been good about helping out Texans. And if we need it as a result of this situation, I\u2019m sure that Texans will be here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UVALDE COUNTY, Texas \u2014 As floodwaters continued to rise across parts of Uvalde County Monday, County Judge William…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,3537,16217,8580,46594,46596,46595,8773,8152,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,46593],"class_list":{"0":"post-65565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-evacuation","10":"tag-flood","11":"tag-flooding","12":"tag-frio-river","13":"tag-judge-mitchell","14":"tag-nueces-river","15":"tag-rainfall","16":"tag-safety","17":"tag-san-antonio","18":"tag-sanantonio","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-uvalde-county"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114853061886680607","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}