BY MARY JANE FARMER

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Rains tore through Grayson County Wednesday, causing flooding on state, county, and city roadways and causing several vehicles to hydroplane.

In Gunter, firefighters made a water rescue, and in Anna, word went out to find a child who was temporarily missing during the heavy rains. In southern Oklahoma, either a tornado or a micro-burst reportedly touched down along Levenworth Trail, in the Colbert area.

It was mid-afternoon when damaging winds knocked loose power lines paralleling U.S. Highway 69 and 75 near Colbert. At least one of those lines, still active, landed on a tractor-trailer rig on the highway. Until the driver could be rescued and the power to the lines cut off, traffic in both directions was shut down.

About that same time, damaging winds, either from a quick tornado or a micro-burst, traveled along Levenworth Trail and the highway in Colbert, hitting several houses. A National Weather Service spokesman said NWS would wait on the Bryan County Office of Emergency Management to investigate before making an official determination about what caused the winds. The spokesman said that nothing on the radar at that time indicated there was rotation in the clouds.

Law enforcement attempted to divert the waiting traffic, backed up across the Red River Bridge into Denison. Two people caught in it said traffic was at a dead standstill for a long while. One caller said there was sheet metal and twisted objects lying all over the area as she made her way from Colbert to Durant on a winding back road.

Police and fire radios stated that several first responders walked the Levenworth Trail area and went to the damaged homes to determine if anyone was injured. There were no injuries, according to those talking on the radios.

Levenworth Trail was blocked off, with only the emergency management team and its assistants allowed on it. Miles Gooding, with the office of emergency management, said the department's director was on scene about 5 p.m. and that more information might be available later after he makes his report.

Back in Texas, Grayson County's Code Red system called telephones twice across the county, warning of possible damaging winds and rising waters.

Wrecks began with the weather, around 11:30 a.m., with reports of a truck hitting a guardrail and an SUV striking a light pole, both after hydroplaning. A vehicle rolled onto its side on U.S. Highway 82 over U.S. Highway 75 in Sherman.

At 12:45 p.m., the deluge struck Sherman, having moved up from the south. It was only 15 minutes later that Sherman firefighters began a rescue of people trapped by rising water on Harrison Street beneath the train overpass, before barricades were put out to block traffic. Sherman public works barricaded the street and firefighters got the occupants out and to safety.

Archer and Crescent streets in Sherman were reported to have been under water. Lamberth Street between U.S. 75 and Travis Street flooded. The east U.S. 75 service road between Cherry and Lamar streets flooded. One vehicle that tried to pass through it managed to pull into a parking lot on the side and activate its flashers. Later, there were people there helping that driver get the passenger car moving again.

Water rose over Walnut Street, especially around the King Street intersection, and on Crockett Street. Lamar and Houston streets had considerable water over the pavement, but were not blocked off. There were many other dangerous, low-water areas throughout the city.

Barricades set up across the city were left in place, even after the rain stopped and water receded, because the National Weather Service predicted that a second rain cell could be expected later Wednesday.

Denison Fire Department Captain Dennis Snider said that the worst damage in the city was on Flora Lane, between Lum and Crawford, where water flooded one of the homes there. He said the same house has been flooded in the past.

The Denison Fire Department also shut down Pool Road, which runs behind Texoma Medical Center and is used by ambulances transporting patients to the hospital's emergency room. Ambulances were rerouted to go into the main entrance on FM 691, then wind through the parking lot to reach the emergency room doors. Snider said the city's public works believes the water blockage on Pool Road was caused by a drain that was clogged.

High water shut down the roadway at Lillis and Crawford, near B. McDaniel School, for about 30 minutes. Snider said the department also responded to six wrecks in a row, all of them without injuries. These were due to the flooding, he said, because of either hydroplaning or low visibility due to the hard rain.

One positive aspect of this storm, Snider pointed out, was that it was not necessarily accompanied by high winds and that prevented power lines from being damaged.

Grayson County Office of Emergency Management Director Sarah Somers kept a constant dialogue running on the office's Facebook site, listing roads as Grayson County commissioners closed them because of high water.

She listed the following roads in southwestern Grayson County: Lawrence Lane, Gage Road, Precinct Road, Little Elm Road, Horseshoe Road, Jordan Creek, CR 222, Josh Road, Davis Road, McCombs Cemetery Road.

Somers also reported the following roads had water on them, but were passable: Refuge Road, between north gate of the Airport and FM 1417; North Airport Road, between Refuge and Hagerman Road; Hagerman Road, just west of State Highway 289; Enterprise Road, between Refuge and Plainview roads.

State Highway 289 was the site of several wrecks, reportedly from hydroplaning, according to reports from police radios.

With each posting, Somers reminded the public that it is dangerous to drive around barricades or to move them.

Gunter was one of the first cities to report flooding, with its police Chief Brice Kennedy reporting that SH 289 was flooded from the elementary school south to the county line. Autry and Robineta streets were also flooded in that area.

About noon, Gunter firefighters were called to assist a driver on Wallace Road. It was about an hour later that they reported the driver and her 3-year-old daughter were safe and called for a wrecker. Gunter Fire Chief Kevin Price said that the woman's car got caught in the overflowing water and washed partially off the road, trapping both her and the toddler as water rose about halfway up to the windows. A passerby saw her trapped there and called Price directly.

Firefighters took two trucks, putting one on each side of the creek, and ran a lifeline from one to the other. Then, Price said, they put life jackets on the woman and the child and walked them to safety, using the lifeline for support. Kennedy was involved in that rescue, Price said.

"She stayed in the car waiting for help and that was the right thing to do," Price said.

Another fire department crew worked the inner part of the city where there were some roads flooded. Price said that nothing got dangerously close to any residences.

"The six-inch rain gauge at the sewer plant was emptied yesterday (Tuesday), and today (Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.) it was overflowing. That's how much rain we got here," Price said.

Van Alstyne police Lt. Tim Barnes said there were small amounts of water along U.S. Highway 75, State Highway 5, and FM 121 through the city, but few problems on the residential roads inside the city. Resident Taylor Henson, a Grayson County College student, reported that rains were so dense that driving was at an almost zero visibility level.

Tioga police Chief Dick Rodgers reported that a bridge on West Hinton road, outside city limits, was washing out, and that he had put up barricades on both sides of that bridge. A Grayson County Precinct 3 crew arrived to take care of that situation. Rodgers said there were considerable amounts of rain and high water, but no city streets needed to be barricaded closed. Rodgers said the city's public works department has been busy over time cleaning out the ditches, and that helped drain the rising water rather than letting it stand.

Anna police Chief Kenny Jenks said there were multiple wrecks on U.S. Highway 75, mostly from vehicles spinning out and into the cable barrier in the median. One vehicle even crashed through it, he said, but added that there were no serious injuries.

There was one young child who wandered away from his group at an Anna Elementary School, and officials urgently called police and fire departments to find him. But, Jenks said, school officials found the child safe before they arrived.

Howe police worked several wrecks along U.S. 75, according to police radios. Around 4:20 p.m., a pickup reportedly flipped onto its side, and its driver was able to get out before police or ambulance arrived. Earlier, it was a Locust firefighter traveling north who called in a two-vehicle wreck, and again there were no major injuries.