“It’s crazy that we used to pray for rain and now all we do is pray it stays away so we can finish this job,” said Ryan Logue, a United Cajun Navy incident commander
KERR COUNTY, Texas — July is, on average, a dry month across Texas.
It’s typically the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s driest month.
The National Weather Service (NWS) estimates more than a foot of rain has fallen in several towns across Texas, with the highest amounts in Central Texas and the Hill Country – in some cases, 16 to 17 inches.
National Weather Service maps show a large portion of the state receiving more than 600% above “normal” rainfall in the first two weeks of July.
“It’s crazy that we used to pray for rain and now all we do is pray it stays away so we can finish this job,” said Ryan Logue from his Kerrville home.
Logue joined the United Cajun Navy after the historic July 4 flood devastated his community.
He’s now the incident commander in Kerr County.
The United Cajun Navy is a volunteer-based non-profit organization.
It was founded after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and is now a critical part of rescue and recovery after natural disasters across the country.
They’ve been searching for victims since July 4, but round after round of rain has led to multiple flash flood warnings in areas where they are working. They’ve been forced to stop searching and move to higher ground several times.
“We’ve been putting 18-hour days in, even 24-hour days at times, doing everything we can to get these families closure. And then areas we’ve been working on are flooded over again, so we have to start back from ground zero,” Logue said.
Typically, weather systems move into Texas and the jet stream ushers them out, but for days, they’ve stayed parked over the state.
And the warm, moist atmosphere keeps causing downpours.
Logue said by mid-summer, his community is often suffering from drought – crops stop growing and grass turns brown and dry.
“It’s like a weird, sick joke when all of a sudden it comes in like this,” he said.