East Texas looks at aftermath following storms

SMITH COUNTY — According to our news partner KETK, rescue teams in East Texas remain busy as they address issues including flooded roadways, downed power lines and even rescue crews due to recent weather conditions. In Cherokee County, on the 2500 block of FM Road 855, authorities worked to save a woman Tuesday night who got swept away in her car from flood waters. A day later, the road is shut down and the vehicle remains trapped in water with no word yet when officials plan to move it. Over in Smith County, two people had to be rescued Wednesday morning near Troup after being stuck for nearly two hours.

Downed trees on roads were also keeping crews busy. “We’ve worked on dozens of trees,” Moore said. “Road and bridge [crews] have cut up and cleaned up many.” Rusk County has experienced flooding and downed trees with many residents losing power in the process. “We had a couple of transformer explosions,” Rusk County Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez said. “Just a whole lotta mess.”

Valdez adds thousands of residents were at one point without power, with some going more than 24 hours without it.

“There’s so many lines that were knocked down,” Valdez said.

Still, many in East Texas are waiting for power to come back and for sunny days to come.