SAN ANTONIO – The extent of Thursday’s flooding has been so shocking to people across the city that some people are comparing it to the historic and catastrophic 1998 floods in San Antonio.
KSAT has hours of footage showing our station’s coverage of the ’98 flood. The footage was released years ago.
>> 26 years ago, the tragic flood of ‘98 came through San Antonio
On Friday, a KSAT viewer pointed out that the houses and businesses swept away decades ago were in the exact place where a handful of people have now died.
The decades-old KSAT footage brings Oralia Herrera’s memories to life. She still lives steps away from the creek.
“There were a few houses right over there, and at the corner, there was a convenience store,” Herrera said as she pointed right across the street to the creek. “Four feet of water came into the house, and my neighbors and I we ended up getting up on the roof until the water subsided.”
While Herrera described her memories, her next-door neighbor Andy Jacobson came out of his house, and she waved him over.
Jacobson has lived in his house since 1972.
“After ’98, for years, my wife was traumatized anytime clouds came up,” Jacobson said.
When Jacobson and Herrera saw the floodwater rush on Thursday, they were first relieved that there were no longer houses on the creek.
“The city would not let those people rebuild because of the water,” Herrera said. “They knew the water would probably come back up.”
However, as the San Antonio Fire Department said there has been an increase in deaths, their relief evaporated.
“A lot more deaths with this one,” Jacobson said. “I guess since it was so sudden.”
The fire department confirmed to KSAT in a news release that 11 people are dead from Thursday’s storms. SAFD said all the fatalities are from the Salado Creek area, located near Northeast Loop 410 and Perrin Beitel.
Though the floodwaters are now fading, their memories will never fade.
They hope that the next time it pours, people will remember what can happen at that creek.
“I guess they feel that it’s gonna be safe, but it’s not, it’s really not,” Herrera said.
More recent coverage of this story on KSAT: