Monday’s wet weather made for hazardous driving all over Central Texas.
And if wet roads weren’t enough, serious flooding in several areas caught lots of drivers by surprise.
A driver in Speegleville learned the hard way, why authorities say “turn around, don’t drown” when faced with a flooded road.
They turned their truck on its side in the middle of Hog Creek, with feet of fast-rushing water all around it.
The windshield kept going back-and-forth like a wagging finger saying “I told you so.”
Cold rain that just wouldn’t let up, started flooding creeks, rivers and streams across central Texas, making getting around dangerous.
In Clifton, logs as big as cars swept down a rushing Bosque River.
Karla Childers just had to see the flooding for herself.
"Oh, it’s crazy. I mean, the Bosque’s out of its banks. What are you seeing around town as you’re driving around? Lots of floodwaters," she said.
The Bosque even began to eat away at a town park, swamping trees and creeping up into normally grassy expanses and picnic areas.
A couple of fishermen took advantage of the high water to catch a few for dinner.
In Temple, most, but not all drivers got to Pepper Creek and turned around rather than chance getting swept away in about two feet of fast-moving water.
"When it rains real hard and Pepper Creek comes up, it’ll come up even higher. It’ll go all the way up to Pat Cole Road,” said Eric Barone, who believes too many people try to make it across here, putting too many lives at risk.
”Always when this creek fills up, no one pays attention to how high this water really is, they try to drive through it, and either they get stuck or they get washed away,” he said.
Which is why the National Weather Service came up with the slogan “turn around, don’t drown,” because they say, it saves lives.
And with weather that’s cold and blustery enough to create steam coming up from Lake Waco, and whitecaps along its shores, they say, you just can’t take chances.
Weather like this creates danger and no one knows that better than Childers.
"I’m praying for my family and everybody else’s family to just drive safe… take your time," she said.
She knows all too well, we all spent a lot of time praying for rain and we got a lot of rain in return.
Dangerous conditions could linger for another day or so, so make sure you allow extra time to get where you're going.
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