Severe storms that began last week in Texas and Oklahoma have
killed at least 23 people, and the damage is so extensive that Texas
Governor Greg Abbott has declared nearly 40 counties disaster areas. In
Houston, many highways turned into waterways, and more than a thousand
cars were submerged under water. President Obama has pledged federal
assistance to help the state recover, but cleanup efforts were stalled
Thursday as thunderstorms continued. The historic floods in Texas come
as the state is just ending an extreme drought. Meanwhile, several
possible Republican presidential candidates are questioning climate
change. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has talked about "global warming alarmists."
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has said "climate change has been
co-opted by the hardcore left."
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH:
Severe storms that began last week in Texas and Oklahoma have killed at
least 23 people, and the damage is so extensive that Texas Governor
Greg Abbott has declared nearly 40 counties disaster areas. In Houston,
many highways turned into waterways, and more than a thousand cars were
submerged under water. President Obama has pledged federal assistance to
help the state recover, but cleanup efforts were stalled Thursday as
thunderstorms continued. Some of the worst flooding happened in the
small town of Wimberley, between San Antonio and Austin, where the
Blanco River rose 28 feet in just an hour, cresting at 40 feet—more than
triple its flood stage of 13 feet. This is Hays County Commissioner
Will Conley.WILL CONLEY: Our community along the Blanco River in Hays County and our colleagues in Blanco County and Caldwell and in Gonzales County have been devastated by a tsunami of water, a historic tsunami of water that came down the Blanco River very quickly, in a very powerful way.NERMEEN SHAIKH: Among those still missing is Laura McComb and her two young children, who were in their house when floodwaters from the Blanco River washed it off its foundation. Her sister, Julie Shields, described how she received a phone call from McComb around 1:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.
JULIE SHIELDS: The roof collapsed. "We are in a house that is now floating down the river. Call Mom and Dad. I love you. And pray." And it was incredibly calm. And she knew. She knew. And some people never get the opportunity to say goodbye. And the conversation that we had—you don’t realize it at the time. I mean, I thought that, you know, I’d be the big sister bailing out the little sister the next morning, because she had to get off the phone. She saw a light. They thought they were about to get rescued. So, me thinking—I’m seeing all these water rescues, it’s the helicopter coming down, they’re lowering the hoist, and they’re going to pull her up. And I just expected to go to the Wimberley high school the next day and find her. And then, when she wasn’t there, I knew something was very, very wrong.
