TYLER COUNTY – Emergency management officials are warning Tyler County residents of rising waters.
According to the county’s Emergency Management Office, the water levels of the Neches River, north of the county, are rising.
Emergency Management Coordinator John Settlocker said his office was notified on Monday morning that Fox Landing would begin to see some minor flooding as soon as Friday.
“It will take another three to seven days before that flood water makes a difference at Town Bluff and Barlow Lakes. Add another couple of days before Sheffield's Ferry would see any changes in the river. Just be watchful of the river levels,” he said, and added that he will update river levels daily and post them to the Tyler County Emergency Management Facebook page.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Shreveport put out a flood warning on Tuesday for the Neches at Rockland, which will affect Jasper and Angelina counties, as well as Tyler, with minor flooding forecast. The warning is in effect from late Friday night until further notice.
NWS posted an alert that on Tuesday, at 7 a.m. the river stage was at 15 feet, with a forecast of it predicted to rise above flood stage early Saturday morning and continuing to rise to 26.6 feet by early Sunday. “Additional rises are possible thereafter,” according to the alert. The flood stage is 26 feet.
These projections come after several weeks of widespread severe weather in the region, and right at the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which has been predicted to be an “above-normal” season, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with a range of anywhere from 13 to 19 named storms.
The severe weather events of the spring also follow the heels of an excessively severe weather period for the spring of 2024, from April 26 through June 5, when continuous rains brought flooding to much of the state, leading then-President Joe Biden to declare it a major disaster.
