Austin: Divers found the body of a missing Central Texas sheriff’s deputy on Friday, a day after her patrol car was found swamped by floodwaters minutes after she radioed for help while checking flooded low-water crossings.
Senior Deputy Jessica Hollis was found dead on Friday afternoon in Lake Austin, an emotional Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton announced on Friday afternoon. Hamilton said he had been determined to “bring her home.”
Efforts to locate the deputy were suspended before nightfall on Thursday because of the storms, which were remnants of Hurricane Odile.
The National Weather Service forecasts more heavy rain through Saturday over much of West Texas, with flash flood watches issued through Friday night. Rain fell on Friday in south-east Texas and elsewhere in the state, with high waters clogging roadways and impeding traffic in metro areas such as Austin and Houston.
Hollis, 35, a seven-year veteran of the department, was checking low-water crossings during storms. She radioed shortly before 2am CDT on Thursday to say her patrol car was being washed away in an Austin-area subdivision, Travis County sheriff’s spokesman Roger Wade said.
Hollis’ empty car was found a short time later, but she could not be located.
“We believe she was swept into the low-water crossing by water going down the street,” Wade said.
Earlier this week, rainfall pelted parts of the state. In Plainview, about 45 miles north of Lubbock, four and a half inches of rain was reported over 24 hours ending at 2pm CDT on Thursday.
“We are getting moisture from Odile,” said Cory Van Pelt, a National Weather Service forecaster in New Braunfels. “We also got a lot of Gulf of Mexico moisture that came in, a combination of the two.”
The Austin area received 5 to 7 inches of rain early on Thursday, Van Pelt said. About 40 miles north of Austin, near Jarrell, a weather service observer measured almost one and a half inches of rain within 30 minutes.
Austin-Travis County EMS handled three swift-water rescues in the region Thursday morning, Benavides said. No injuries were reported in those rescues.
