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During the Memorial Day weekend, as part of a month-long string of weather incidents, deadly storms struck parts of Texas and Oklahoma dumping record rainfall and causing torrential flooding. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed, bridges and roads were washed out, the fourth-largest city in the U.S. was brought to a stand-still, at least 5 people were killed and countless others are injured or missing.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared disasters in 37 counties and said “It is absolutely massive — the relentless tsunami-type power of this wave of water.”

The scope and complexity of such a rapid, large-scale incident requires a parallel response. Texas agencies, responders, rescue crews and volunteer organizations mobilized quickly.

Approximately 98 Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS) personnel have been activated, along with regional incident management personnel from local government. Duties include staffing for the state operations center, tornado and flooding response in the form of planning, logistics, search and rescue support and command support. They also have conducted debris removal, road clearing, sand bagging, resource tracking, evacuations, chainsaw crews, and liaison to local officials.

Dangerous flooding remains a threat to communities across the state.

From the National Association Of State Foresters: https://stateforesters.org/news-events/blog/texas-am-forest-service-responds-flooding