Remnants of Hurricane Rick damaged homes, delayed schools, and closed roads Wednesday night and Thursday morning, bringing as much as 9 inches of rain to the thirsty lakes and rivers of the Highland Lakes.

A woman was found dead after her Jeep was swept away as she drove over a low water crossing.

Meteorologists expected rainfall, but were caught off-guard by its intensity and concentration.

“The magnitude of the rainfall was a bit of a surprise, said Bob Rose, chief meteorologist of the Lower Colorado River Authority. “We expected it to be more widespread.”

Rose said the rocky terrain, saturated by September rains, spurred the runoff.

Pederales Electric or Central Texas Electric reported no major outages. One line went out briefly but was restored, affecting about 300 members northwest of Lake Buchanan, said David Peterson, director of engineering and operations at CTEC.

“Rain typically does not affect the electric system like high winds or lightening,” said Anne Harvey, spokesperson for the PEC.

Burnet and Llano counties were under flash flood warnings from 12:48 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. Thursday morning, said Chris Morris, forecaster with the National Weather Service in New Braunfels.

Burnet received 6.1 inches of rain; Kingsland, 7.8; Llano, 2.36. The most rainfall was recorded near Lake LBJ: 8.7 to 9.34 inches by gauges at SH 29 and RR 1431 bridges.

“Llano and Burnet counties seemed to be the big winners for rainfall in South Central Texas,” Morris said. “It was a pretty good downpour.”

Several homes were damaged from floodwaters in Llano County, said John Neff, Llano County Sheriff’s Office Deputy.

One family was rescued from their home in the Comanche Riviera subdivision near CR 309 in Kingsland; a couple of other homes in the Sandy Harbor area were flooded with several inches of water, Neff said.

For the full story, see The Highlander.