A total of 4.5 inches of rain fell in Cleburne between midnight and 7:15 a.m. Friday.
About 12:12 a.m. Friday, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office 911 center received a phone call about a high water rescue on County Road 913 at the Rock Creek bridge, Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said.
Johnson County Emergency Service District Station 83 was first on scene.
Cleburne Fire Chief Clint Ishmael said Johnson County Emergency Service District crews at the scene were able to make contact with the woman when they first arrived.
“She was inside the car until it went under water,” Ishmael said. “The car went downstream and got caught up in some trees. At that point, she was no longer in the car. We don’t know if she got out on her own or if she floated out of the car.”
A firefighter observed the vehicle being washed off the roadway. The vehicle was downstream about one-fourth mile from the bridge.
JCSO deputies, as well as firefighters from the ESD, Burleson Fire Department Swift Water Rescue, Cleburne Fire Department, Joshua Fire Department and Sheppard Valley Search and Rescue searched for a single female occupant who a witness stated was washed out of the vehicle downstream.
About 4 a.m. the water lowered enough for deputies to inspect the vehicle and confirm the female was not inside the vehicle.
At the time of the incident, water was out of the banks of Rock Creek by 10 to 12 feet, allowing the creek to widen close to 100 yards.
At 8:41 a.m., the woman’s body was found downstream from her car. The victim was identified as 33-year-old Sandra Jones.
Alford said the body of a 48-year-old Hispanic male was also recovered Friday morning.
A truck traveling just off Farm-to-Market Road 917 in Mansfield at 12:38 a.m. was carried away by high water. The man’s body was found at 10:12 a.m. in a creek that runs off Mustang Creek within Johnson County.
“There were three of them in the truck when it got swept up,” Alford said. “Two of them got out, but one didn’t make it.”
The victim was identified as Jose Vargas of Grapevine.
There were 16 water rescues throughout Johnson County between midnight and 6 a.m. Friday, Johnson County Emergency Management Coordinator Jamie Moore said.
“It’s been people driving through high water unintentionally,” he said. Right now there are 14 roads closed across the county, which you can view on the Ops Center app. The flooding wasn’t really isolated to one area.”
Moore said they didn’t anticipate any issues throughout Friday until more heavy rain came through that night and Saturday.
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