About 200 people live in or near
the tiny hamlet of Aliceville in the
southwest Yung County, most longtime
residents who've lived here all their
lives.
They know the clear fork of the this
river, but they've never seen
it this big and angry.
More than 16 inches of rain upstream
and the watershed sent the river rising
yesterday afternoon.
By this afternoon, the town was
accessible only by a country dirt road.
Eleven families were evacuated from their
homes beginning about daybreak.
They're staying with friends and
relatives.
Luckily, no one has been injured or
killed here.
The Clear Fork of the Brazos usually
meanders lazily through the rolling
hills, seldom more than
several dozen feet wide, but not
today at Alliance Ville, the
Clear Fork stretched at least
a half mile across.
The clear report has flooded before.
The last time in 1957 was
a major flood, but not like
this one.
Young county is oil country
and an oil country, the pumping never
stops, not even for a flood.
Some cattle and horses were trapped by
the rising floodwaters.
Others got caught with no way to get to
higher ground.
One horse that tried to swim to safety
was swept into a submerged barbed wire
fence.
The owner used a boat to get a rope on
the horse and try to pull him to safety
for a half hour. He tried, but
it was no use.
The horse couldn't free himself and
completely exhausted.
The animal rolled over and was drowned.
As bad as the flooding is an alliance,
well, the worst may be yet to come,
especially for those who live further
downstream.
Bill Hix, The Texas News.
Alliance Bill.