While parts of southern Liberty County on Sunday are still struggling with high flood water along the Trinity River, water along the East Fork of the San Jacinto River is slowly receding even though boats are still running along Low Water Bridge Road in Cleveland to pick up people stranded in their homes as of 1 p.m. Sunday.
US 59 in the Cleveland area has now reopened, though Low Water Bridge Road will remain closed for some time. SH 105 between US 59 and the SH 105 Bypass in Cleveland was temporarily closed due to high water from the East Fork of the San Jacinto River, but it has since reopened, according to Cleveland Fire Chief Sean Anderson, who also serves as the Emergency Management coordinator for the City of Cleveland.
“They are working to fortify the BNSF Railroad track and there isn’t a whole lot open in town at the moment, though that could be because it’s Sunday, too,” said Anderson in his update. “We still have some rain in the forecast through Sunday, there is sunshine in the forecast for the remainder of the week.”
With the disaster response in the Cleveland area slowly transitioning to recovery efforts, water and food distribution centers are starting to pop up. The Salvation Army is aiding in the response, using Liberty Church in Cleveland, as a headquarters. They have set up two canteen events in Santa Fe Subdivision (Colony Ridge) and provided hot meals to flood-affected families, many of whom have been without power.
In an announcement prior to their arrival, Salvation Army’s Alvin Migues, emergency disaster services director, said, “We are deploying a Salvation Army Incident Management Team that will coordinate initial operations based out of Cleveland, Texas, and will be prepared to expand into areas farther south as additional needs become apparent. The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Team will be setting up field kitchens alongside The Salvation Army teams, with the site in Cleveland provided by Liberty Church. This valuable long-time partnership makes it possible for us to provide large-scale meal distribution to communities impacted by loss of power and flooding.”
At nearby Calvary Baptist Church, 816 N. Blair Ave., in Cleveland, volunteers are distributed water, bleach cleaner, baby food and other drinks while supplies last.
Starting at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 5, volunteers will be distributing cases of water to the community at the Santa Fe Administration and Activities Building, located at 1680 CR 3549 in the Colony Ridge community south of Plum Grove.
Residents in south Liberty County are still waiting on the water to recede. The Trinity River at the US 90 bridge in Liberty is projected to crest at 32.06 feet around 1 p.m. Sunday, and will begin receding slowly in the coming days. At the meantime, US 90 between Liberty and Dayton is down to two lanes with the eastbound lanes being used for contraflow traffic. The westbound lane is partially underwater as of Sunday.
According to the National Weather Service, the crest at the Liberty bridge is just shy of the historic crest of 32.70 feet, which was set by Hurricane Harvey on Sept. 1, 2017. The second highest crest at the bridge was set by the October 1994 that flooded parts of Liberty.