By KBC Associate :max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(896x614:898x616)/San-Antonio-flooding-061325-01-080f717aa984486d9248ddf87507cc08.jpg?ssl=1 "San Antonio Death Toll Rises to at Least 11 amid Massive Flooding")
NEED TO KNOW
- A downpour of rain hit San Antonio on Thursday, June 12, resulting in massive flooding across the city
- The death toll has since reached 11, officials confirmed on Friday, June 13
- Though dozens of people have been rescued, several others remain unaccounted for
The death toll has climbed to 11 as dangerous floods hit San Antonio.
The downpour of rain began on Thursday, June 12, resulting in floods that persisted across the seventh-largest city in the U.S.
On Friday, June 13, officials confirmed the death toll rose to 11 people. Five people were declared dead on Thursday, June 12. The other six victims were discovered throughout Bexar County, said a Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office spokesperson on Friday, June 13, per New York Post.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office added that three of the confirmed dead were Victor Manuel Macias Castro, 28, Matthew Angel Tufono, 51, and Martha De La Torre Rangel, 55, per KENS 5 and the San Antonio Report. The San Antonio Police Department is investigating their deaths, per The New York Times.
AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi
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Several people are still unaccounted for, but the number of missing people has slowly decreased, a San Antonio Fire Department spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE.
The Thursday, June 12, rainfall dropped 7 inches, and residents climbed trees to escape rising water.
Over 70 people have been rescued from the floodwaters, with a majority of people being pulled from their stalled vehicles.
The San Antonio Fire Department said that at least 10 people were found a mile from their sunken cars and removed from bushes and trees, per the New York Post. The primary search efforts remain focused on the Salado Creek and the Leon Creek areas, the San Antonio Fire Department spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE.
The family of Rudy Garza, one of the deceased victims, announced the 61-year-old died, per KENS 5. His daughter, Brittany Guerrero, told the outlet that his body was recovered on Friday.
“He said, ‘Oh my God, Sylvia water is in my car,’ ” Brittany recalled. Noting that her mother was on the phone with him before he died: “She’s like ‘Baby…’ They both said their ‘I love you’s’ and she said the call faded away.”
Angel Richards told the San Antonio Express-News that her husband, Stevie Richards, 42, is still missing after his car was swept away.
“As I was talking to him, he said, ‘Oh, the car’s floating’… It wasn’t even a whole minute later that I could hear it hitting up against something, him screaming and cussing, and I could hear the water take the phone,” she told the outlet. “It happened really, really fast.”