Flood waters start receding but dangers remain

Flood waters started receding Monday but that didn't prevent the need for two daring late night rescued by Starflight.

There's not a lot of standing water left but in Smithville the Colorado River remains high and fast. New flood gauges put in by the LCRA before the rain bomb hit got their first real test. BastropCo emergency management director Mike Fisher said Tuesday the gauges did their job.

"I was so glad to have that extra information. One event doesn't give you the experience like, what does this mean, how many hours from here to here, those kind of things are still to be determined. But having that information was terrific."

The flood threat diminished by Tuesday morning but water still covered some spots like on Spicewood Springs in NW Austin. Despite the risk, we continued to see people drive through the rushing water.

An example of the danger happened late Monday night when Starflight crews had 2 rescues. One took place in Lee County involving a mother and son who had to be pulled from the roof of their car.

The rescue was captured and posted on the Giddings Times & News Facebook site.

In Travis county near Elgin on Bitting School Rd, a man was also rescued. Investigators say he drove around barricades. Its the type of a call for help that puts emergency responders at risk, but those are calls Casey Ping with Starflight said they will never ignore.

"At the end of the day our job is to go respond to emegencies, and yes it can be frustrating but at the end of the day someone needs help and that's where our focus is to go help them ."

Ping is still mystified by why so many people still ignore their warnings.

"The last thing anybody wants to do is be hoisted by a helicopter or rescued by the boat team or have to be drug through the water by the rescuers so we really encourage people to look at the consequences and take the extra time to drive around and find a different route stay out of the water because you don't know what can happen and the consequences can be deadly ."

While the air crew prepares  for the next call Road crews are out doing damage assessments. Several roads washed out and bridges now must be inspected over the next few days make sure that they are still sound.