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UVALDE (AP) — Rescuers saved dozens of stranded drivers and people trapped in homes from catastrophic flooding in Texas while many more fled to higher ground Thursday across a region still recovering from devastating floods just a year ago.

So far, at least one person has died, said Gov. Greg Abbott, who added that it appeared that many of summer camps hit hard last year were not facing any danger. “Our number one focus is saving lives,” he said.

After days of pounding rain, the National Weather Service said a “large and deadly flood wave” was barreling down the same river wrecked by flash floods last summer when two dozen children and counselors were killed at Camp Mystic.

Forecasters urgently warned “Move to higher ground now!” as rivers rose hour by hour, turning them into fast-moving seas of white water. Several tornado warnings were also issued.

The Texas Hill Country floods over the July Fourth holiday last year killed more than 100 people.

The governor said there was “one loss of life” so far but did not specify where or when. More than 1,300 personnel were responding and have rescued well over 70 people, he said Thursday.

The unfolding crisis brought back haunting memories of last summer’s unimaginable floods for many.

“It’s crazy happening two times in one year,” said Josiah Rodriguez, who woke to the sound of heavy rain around 2 a.m. Thursday in Kerrville. He navigated flooded roads to help evacuate relatives.

“Last year there was no warning of it,” he said. “It just kind of happened overnight and it took everyone by surprise. This year, a lot more alerts have gone into place, a lot more safety measures.”

Residents said they were caught off guard a year ago and didn’t receive any warning when floods overtopped the Guadalupe River. Some local leaders were criticized for not acting quickly.

The storms and flooding this time threatened multiple counties close to the border with Mexico and in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio. City officials in Kerrville urged people to shelter at the highest levels of their homes.

Images along a creek in Kerr County showed propane tanks that had been pushed onto a bridge and a mess of tangled trees.
Uvalde residents isolated by floodwaters

Floodwaters overran the city of Uvalde overnight, cutting off outside access. The Leona River, normally dry most of the year, filled streets with water.

“People really can’t get anywhere” said Carmen Rodriguez, who was nervously watching water engulf her neighborhood Thursday morning as a helicopter roared overhead. “We have a place to go, but all the streets are closed.”

Phones buzzed with warnings throughout the night warning of flash floods in the morning. Rodriguez said it seemed that authorities were well prepared. By Wednesday, Uvalde police had ordered some mandatory evacuations, with first responders notifying people directly.

Uvalde officials sent out rescue boats and found multiple people trapped in vehicles overnight, said Juli Alvarado, a spokesperson for Uvalde police.

“There’s no way into the city at this point,” she said.

Texas Game Wardens rescued more than 40 people and evacuated about a dozen others, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson.
Flooding could reach last year’s deadly high

The floodwaters were expected to reach a crest similar to last year’s flood, the weather service said.

Gauges in some spots along the Guadalupe River showed it rose by more than 30 feet (9 meters) in just hours overnight. One gauge outside Kerrville showed the river had risen 32 feet (9.7 meters) in four hours.

Close to Camp Mystic, which remains shut, the Guadalupe River near Hunt reached about 20.5 feet (6.3 meters), according to a U.S. Geological Survey gauge, which is just under the level expected to inundate structures and roads.

Flooding hits towns still rebuilding

Volunteer firefighters spent the night helping people evacuate their homes and answering calls about rising water in Ingram, just up river from Hunt, where summer camps dot the shores of the Guadalupe, Ingram Mayor Claud Jordan said Thursday morning.

While the water didn’t rise as high as a year ago, he believes this round of flooding was more widespread and “worse” in his city. “The rural part of Ingram, all the roads are just trashed,” he said.

“There are a bunch of businesses that haven’t reopened from last year. They’re still trying to rebuild from the July 4 floods,” Jordan said. “This doesn’t help.”
A rush to higher ground

Residents at an RV park in Comfort, Texas, near the Guadalupe River moved their trailers as local fire department sirens sounded, manager Duke Earwood said Thursday.

Water rose over the hoods of vehicles parked closest to the river.

While the water started to recede, another surge was expected, Earwood said at the Comfort RV Resort, which has about 200 residents. “People need to know to just kind of stay put for now,” he said.

Markers showed the flooding already matched the level from the big flood last July.

“Too familiar for sure, and too soon,” Earwood said.
Another test for Texas Hill Country after the Camp Mystic disaster

The Texas Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area’s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before quickly filling the narrow river basins.

The weather service said 10 to 20 inches of rain (25 to 50 centimeters) had fallen in the past two days, with 8 inches (20 centimeters) in just two hours early Thursday.

The deluge dumped nearly a foot of rain in some counties and put people in multiple counties under flood watches, with some were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.

The governor issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties. As of late Wednesday, six million residents in 57 counties were under a National Weather Service flood watch.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has designated two new Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

They are the Juárez Cartel, on the border with Texas, and Los Viagras, a criminal group from the western state of Michoacán. The Federal Register, the U.S. government’s gazette, published the designation on Thursday.

They joined six other Mexican criminal organizations that the U.S. considers terrorist groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Gangs in other Latin American countries, including Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and El Salvador, also have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump began to extend the terrorist label to Latin American cartels in February 2025 to allow U.S. authorities to take more aggressive action against them or against anyone who the U.S. sees as aiding the groups.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that both criminal groups either have committed terrorist acts or pose a serious risk of committing acts that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

The measure represents a further increase in pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration following the indictment of 10 current and former officials from the state of Sinaloa for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as the controversies about U.S. operations in Mexico.
Higher pressure on the Texas border

Juarez Cartel is one of Mexico’s oldest drug trafficking organizations, which for decades has controlled a key crossing point in the central part of the Mexico-U.S. border: Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, Texas.

Both its founder, Amado Carrillo Fuentes — known as “El Señor de los Cielos” for smuggling massive drug shipments by light aircraft in the 1990s — and the brothers and sons who succeeded him, turned the trafficking of tons of drugs into a multimillion-dollar business. Despite the arrests of many of its leaders, the cartel and its allied gangs maintained control of a vast infrastructure for smuggling illegal shipments into the U.S..

According to Mexican analyst David Saucedo, the designation is key to enabling the United States to take more decisive action along the border, where two other groups both located at the eastern end of the border with Texas — the Gulf Cartel and the Northeast Cartel — were declared terrorist organizations in February 2025.

The US again targets Michoacan

Los Viagras is a local cartel in the western state of Michoacan, which is already home to two other criminal groups designated as terrorist organizations: Cárteles Unidos and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.

Los Viagras emerged following the 2013–2014 armed uprising led by farmers who succeeded in driving out many of the old cartels, only to see them replaced by new ones.

The cartel is led by Nicolás Sierra Santana, who faces a formal indictment in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to traffic drugs, filed in June 2025. The State Department is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

The group has shifted its loyalties and alliances to consolidate its regional control of the territory through extortion. It also produces synthetic drugs, which sells to other cartels that traffic them into the United States.

UVALDE (AP) — Dangerous flooding in Texas has intensified after days of pounding rain, sending emergency crews scrambling to rescue people from high water before sunrise Thursday and setting off urgent warnings from forecasters: “Move to higher ground now!”

The National Weather Service in San Antonio said a “large and deadly flood wave” was barreling down the same river devastated by floods a year ago when two dozen children and counselors were killed at Camp Mystic.

The storms threatened multiple counties close to the border with Mexico and in the Texas Hill Country, where city officials in Kerrville urged people to shelter at the highest levels of their homes.

The Uvalde County Office of Emergency Management issued its own shelter-in-place message. “All major highways and many city streets are closed due to flooding and water over the roadway,” it said.

There was no immediate word of any deaths or injuries from the flooding. Several tornado warnings were also issued.

Texas Game Wardens have participated in rescues of more than 40 people so far from the flooding, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson.

Another test for the Texas Hill Country after the Camp Mystic disaster

The weather service said 10 to 20 inches of rain (25 to 50 centimeters) had fallen in the past two days, with 8 inches (20 centimeters) in just two hours early Thursday.

One gauge less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Kerrville showed the river had risen 32 feet (9.7 meters) in four hours. It was expected to reach a crest similar to the July 4, 2025, catastrophic river flood, the weather service said.

Forecasters had warned that already dangerous conditions were likely to worsen in some hard-hit communities. The deluge dumped nearly a foot of rain in some counties and put people in multiple counties under flood watches. That included parts of the Texas Hill Country where last summer’s devastating floods killed more than 100 people.

Some of the flood watches were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.

Families rush to get to higher ground

By Wednesday, Uvalde police had ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts, with first responders notifying people affected directly, the department said on Facebook. Others were asked to stay vigilant in case more evacuations are needed.

Some people walked out of their homes into the street to see the water growing closer every hour, their faces worried. People living along the Leona River scrambled to pack up their cars and head out, although many did not yet know where they should go. One man threw two kayaks into his truck bed, just in case.

Lightning flashed as clouds darkened the landscape, and brown water created large rapids in the typically calm river, which was pushing up against the town’s high bridge and into neighborhoods by Wednesday afternoon.

The Texas flood watches affect 6 million people

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.

As of Wednesday evening, just over six million Texas residents in 57 counties were under a National Weather Service flood watch that was scheduled to continue through early Thursday night. Watches for 34 of those counties were scheduled to expire Friday evening.

Some of the highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County, where officials conducted dozens of rescues and said more people needed help as river levels rose. Highways and roads were closed across the region because of high water.

The county normally gets about 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain a year, according to the Uvalde County Extension Office.

HOUSTON – Two people were in critical condition after shots were fired inside a Kroger supermarket outside Houston, Texas on Wednesday afternoon, the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office said.

The incident took place at the Cypresswood Drive location in the Cypress around 2:50 p.m. CT., Capt. Juan Flores of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office told reporters.
Law enforcement on the scene of a shooting at a Kroger store in Cypress, Texas, July 15, 2026.

Officers discovered two men shot at the scene, Flores said. Investigators are looking into reports that one of the victims was the shooter, according to the constable’s office.

One of the people shot walked out of the store with injuries and was transported to the hospital, according to Flores.

The other person was found inside the store with multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to the hospital, Flores said.

Both were listed in critical condition Wednesday evening.

No other bystanders were hurt during the incident, Flores said.

The scene was closed off as investigators searched searched the area.

In a statement, Kroger said it was “deeply saddened,” by the incident and the store would remain closed while the police investigation continues.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

CROCKETT (KETK) — A car is stolen or broken into every 23 seconds, according to FBI crime statistics, with an experienced car thief taking less than a minute to steal the average vehicle.

In Texas, more than 65,000 cars and trucks are stolen and almost 200,000 are burglarized every year. On Monday night, the Kilgore Police Department reported that they received 8 calls regarding car burglaries, an unusual uptick for the city with a population of less than 14,000.

The police department is advising residents to stay alert and take proactive measures to protect themselves from becoming victims.

Anyone who may have security video footage or any information regarding the incident is asked to call Detective Torres at 903-983-1559.

Vehicle Theft Prevention

Ensure all windows are closed and your car doors are locked. Always take your keys with you.
Choose to park in well-lit areas for added safety.
Store packages and valuables out of sight; it’s best not to leave them in your vehicle at all. Always make sure to lock your trunk.
Keep your license and registration in your wallet or purse to prevent identity theft; thieves could use them to impersonate you and sell your car.
If you have a garage, remember to lock both your car and the garage door for extra security.

Drone used to capture a suspected car thief in Crockett

Over in Deep East Texas, the Crockett Police Department said that on Tuesday at around 2:30 p.m., law enforcement responded to a vehicle burglary at the J.H. Wotters Crockett Library. The caller said that someone was going through her vehicle before leaving the scene.
Second of three wanted suspects arrested in East Texas car burglary case

When officers arrived, they began a search of the area and deployed a drone to use thermal imaging. They located the suspect attempting to hide between a bush and a nearby church.

As the drone moved overhead, police said the suspect attempted to flee again, but was surrounded by law enforcement and taken into custody. Police were able to recover the victim’s stolen wallet from the suspect’s pocket.

The suspect, identified as Trent Omar Shedd of Crockett, was then taken into the Houston County Jail and charged with burglary of vehicles and evading arrest.

Mugshot of Trent Omar Shedd, courtesy of the Crockett Police Department.

Sentencing for burglarizing a vehicle

For a first-time criminal offense of vehicle burglary, a person can be charged with up to one year in county jail. However, if evidence of prior burglaries is presented, the offense can be punishable by a term in prison no less than 180 days but not more than two years, along with a fine of up to $10,000.

If the suspect stole a firearm or a controlled substance, they may face a third-degree felony, which carries a sentence of two to ten years in prison.

NACOGDOCHES — Beach volleyball players from Stephen F. Austin State University filed a lawsuit against the head coach and the university, claiming they faced retaliation for their support of a Title IX lawsuit against the institution, according to our news partner, KETK.

The suit was filed Monday by Ryann Allison, one of the two plaintiffs, among seven female student athletes, who have filed a Title IX sex discrimination class action lawsuit against the university. The action was prompted by the decision to cut three women’s athletics programs, including beach volleyball. The case is currently still in litigation.

At the end of the 2025-2026 school year, Allison was the only athlete to remain at SFA with plans to continue her senior season. In response to the initial lawsuit, the school reinstated all three programs into the athletic department.

Throughout the initial case, Allison and the second plaintiff, fellow teammate Brynn Dowd, were outspoken in their support for the lawsuit. Dowd expressed that she was proud of what the Title XI plaintiffs were doing and that she would also like to help rebuild the previously cut program, documents said.

Shortly after the end of the season on April 28, Allison had an end-of-year meeting with head beach volleyball coach Gretchen Hand that resulted in Allison being removed from the team for the next season. Dowd reported experiencing the same thing.

The lawsuit states that the defendants had no legitimate reason to remove the players from the team, and when asked why, Hand allegedly told the plaintiffs separately, “You don’t need to understand why.” In addition to her first given reason, Hand reportedly told Dowd that her decision “wasn’t about ability.”

Documents said that both plaintiffs demand a trial by jury. A spokesperson from SFA said the investigation is ongoing and that the university will not be commenting at this time.

Where Myers vs. Stephen F. Austin State University stands now

Filed in 2025, the case first began when the university axed three women’s programs (beach volleyball, golf and bowling) due to alleged budget cuts. The lawsuit against the institution claimed that the university discriminated against its female student-athletes by eliminating the teams.

In September 2025, the university filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on three grounds, as they had already reinstated beach volleyball and golf and claimed that the plaintiffs’ allegations were insufficient to show noncompliance with Title IX.

According to court documents obtained by KETK News, U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Truncale ruled that the motion to dismiss is “granted in part and denied in part.” Despite the procedural ruling that SFA “won” the first ground, the case can still go “forward, full steam ahead,” Arthur Bryant, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said.

The next steps for the plaintiffs are a motion for their class certification and a motion to preserve the claims of all the women athletes, he said, for the trial set in mid-December.

(HOUSTON, Texas) — Deputies responded to reports of multiple people shot inside a Kroger outside Houston, Texas on Wednesday afternoon, the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office said.

The incident took place at the Cypresswood Drive location in the Houston area around 3:00 p.m. CT.

A possible suspect was detained, according to law enforcement.

The scene was closed off as investigators searched searched the area. It was not immediately clear how many victims were involved.

CROCKETT – Police said law enforcement responded to a vehicle burglary on Tuesday at the J.H. Wotters Crockett Library. The caller said someone was going through her vehicle before leaving the scene, according to our news partner, KETK.

When officers arrived, they began a search of the area and deployed a drone to use thermal imaging. They then located the suspect attempting to hide between a bush and a nearby church. As the drone moved overhead, police said the suspect attempted to flee again, but was surrounded by law enforcement and taken into custody.

Police were able to recover the victim’s stolen wallet from the suspect’s pocket. The suspect, identified as Trent Omar Shedd, of Crockett, was taken to Houston County Jail and charged with burglary of vehicles and evading arrest.

ANGELINA COUNTY (KETK) — Over a decade of backlogged cases have piled up in the Angelina County district attorney’s office, leaving thousands of cases pending. District Attorney, Amy Wren, says she’s now taking up the burden left to her to combat the delay in justice.

Wren was first appointed as district attorney in August 2025, and at the time, the number of cases totaled about 6,000, with some dating back more than a decade. After less than a year, the number has dwindled down to about 2,000 as of Tuesday.

“I tried in April a case that was reported and indicted originally in 2015,” Wren said. “So to have a case pending that long, about 11 years by the time it was tried, that’s too long. That’s unusual.”

Several issues could have contributed to the build up throughout the courts and judicial offices, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing issues.

Currently, the district attorney’s office has five prosecutors working the nearly two-thousand cases, including a recent hire. To continue combating the pending cases, the district attorney’s office said they’re looking to hire two more prosecutors.

Hudson (KETK)– Houston-based company Hyper Data Grid has begun construction on Highway 103 in the city of Hudson as it prepares to build a second data center near Angelina County.

Angelina County Judge Keith Wright says the tech company has purchased the former ‘Northern Chip Mill’ property and is currently constructing what they say will be a ‘small data center.’

“There’s some existing water wells on site that they will obtain their water from, and my understanding is that they have an agreement with Oncor for their power, using previous infrastructure on the sight,” Wright said.

As Angelina County residents continue to fight back against the second data center in their neighborhood, the commissioners court said there’s not much that can be done.

“We don’t have any permit authority or way to control land use.” Wright offers one solution: “They are located on a county road, so all we can do is a Road Use Agreement. That will protect the county from damages and force some fees to be paid.”

The court is also working with state lawmakers to find permanent solutions.

TRINIDAD (KETK) — Over the past several months, residents of this East Texas city have been advocating for clean drinking water. Their concerns were confirmed by a recent report from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which identified three violations in the local water supply.

According to TCEQ, the state received multiple complaints regarding poor water quality in April. An investigation was launched shortly after, which evaluated and tested the water system for compliance.

Three of the alleged violations were found to need corrective action with a compliance plan by Aug. 3.

In the investigation, it was found that the system had issues between its filter and controller and failed to conduct chloramine effectiveness, which is used as an alternative disinfectant. It was also found that some streets that reported discoloration problems could not mitigate excessive water age, which is not meeting compliance.

The report reads that the discolored water did not originate from Trinidad’s surface water treatment plant. The operator of the water system told TCEQ that the city is looking to upgrade the water mains through several projects.

“He believed significant portions of the distribution system are old, iron-based water mains (an inventory of the water main composition was not available for review),” the report reads.

Other alleged violations were investigated, but were found to be resolved before the completed report, the TCEQ said.

Additionally, DPS has confirmed to KETK News on Tuesday that the Texas Rangers are now investigating the city. Officials were unable to disclose the nature of the investigation; however, it remains ongoing.