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Authorities found the bodies of two people swept away by floodwaters on Monday at an RV park when nearly a dozen inches of rain pulled several RVs into a nearby river, PEOPLE confirms.

On Thursday, search crews spotted the bodies on the banks of the Llano River near Junction, Texas, around 4:30 p.m. local time and boats moved through the debris in the water to get to the victims. The pair found are two of four people who vanished from the South Llano River RV Park during Monday’s flood.

“When the [flood] occurred, approximately 45 people were evacuated, 19 were actually rescued from the river,” Texas A&M Forest Service spokeswoman Christi Powers tells PEOPLE. “Then of the four we were searching for, two were found yesterday.”

At least 11 inches of rain plagued Junction on Sunday night, causing parts of the South Llano River to rise. Powers says several RVs at the park were swept into the river, and authorities have been searching the damaged vehicles for any survivors.

“Junction and Kimble County have suffered a tragic and totally unexpected flooding,” officials with the RV park wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.

“Many homes and campgrounds along the North, South and Main Llano River have suffered losses. We at South Llano River RV Park are among them. Please pray for us and for everyone effected to be found safe, and for the recovery of our community.”

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The victims, three men and one woman, were staying at the RV park, and Powers says they were likely in close proximity.

Photos of the damage showed toppled and overturned RVs, and one even partially submerged in the river. Although the river has gone down, it could rise again as more rain is expected in the area, according to the Associated Press.

Emergency crews used ropes, boats, helicopters, and life jackets to make rescues on Monday, the AP reported.

“The problem with the RV park, as far as getting accounting of people and getting information, the main office was also swept away,” Kimble County Sheriff Hilario Cantu said, according to the AP. “So whatever records they had there are not accessible.”

The deadly flood comes after Hurricane Michael touched down in Florida on Wednesday, leaving devastation in its wake. Over the week, Michael — now downgraded to a tropical storm — has left at least 13 dead, thousands of homes without power, and areas of Florida, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas with severe flooding.

JUNCTION — More anthills than blades of grass are visible in some of the cracked earth around Junction. The year-long drought has plagued the town — as it has the rest of the state — and for a painful, six-week stretch, Junction banned all outdoor watering.

Some 4.5 inches of rain earlier this month increased the flow of the Llano River, two forks of which meet at the town. But the water is still pretty low — and four panelists at the Texas Water Symposium last week brought some unwelcome news to the townspeople: It’s not going to get any better anytime soon.

“As the state climatologist, people ask me, ‘When’s it going to rain?’” said John Nielsen-Gammon, one of the panelists, who is a professor of meteorology at Texas A&M University and the state's climatologist.

The answer, according to Nielsen-Gammon, is “eventually,” but chances are the drought will last another year, possibly even another decade.

The weather, or lack thereof, can be attributed to La Niña, a cyclical weather pattern resulting in cooler waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Meteorologists say that although La Niña had faded by the summer, it has now returned and is strengthening.

In the past 12 months, Texas has seen 11.1 inches of rainfall on average, according to Nielsen-Gammon, and it broke a heat record for the country that was previously set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Texas AgriLife Extension Service estimates the cost of the drought to be about $5.2 billion, and that estimate — already out of date because it was compiled two months ago — doesn’t include the impact to several kinds of crops and the forestry industry.

Junction, known as the land of living waters, has seen some of its streams dry up. In August, town officials say, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told Junction to cease outdoor water use of any kind when the town of Llano downstream reported it was close to running out of water.

The restrictions have since eased. Joe Robbins, the water and wastewater superintendent at the Junction water plant, said that the TCEQ recently clarified that a blanket ban on outdoor watering was not in fact required, and that Junction residents could go back to watering one day per week and using hand watering as necessary.

However, “we went about six weeks without any type of outdoor water, not even hoses,” said Kimble County Judge Andrew Murr. “People were taking water from their baths and using it to water their lawns.”

When the football field dried up, Murr said, parents and locals concerned children would get hurt on the harder ground put out a call for help and began hauling water from donors who had wells outside of town.

In Texas, water rights are issued by the TCEQ in order of seniority — a sort of first-to-settle, first-in-line system. Entities whose claims were put in relatively recently can be required to reduce their water use when more "senior" users (like the town of Llano) run low.

Bill Neiman, owner of Native American Seed, which grows and sells seeds for plants native to Texas and its surrounding states, said he stopped using outdoor water on his farm July 13, several weeks before TCEQ showed up at his door to impose restrictions.

“Here we are thinking, ‘Sure was a dry winter last year, but at least we have water,’ but spring comes around and we’re like, this is super serious,” Neiman said. “As the drought became more and more obvious, we realized the impact of the bigger picture and began to voluntarily reduce our consumption.”

Neiman showed TCEQ officials around his property, kicking up dust from the dry ground. While manicured lawns in big cities were dying, his native plants were still alive, he said, adding that native plants can survive droughts, although they do not produce fruit. The plants provide an alternative to grasses such as St. Augustine that consume a lot of water. Neiman said that a majority of water consumption in cities goes toward watering lawns.

“The strangest thing about this whole deal was here we are trying to provide alternatives, but we get our water cut,” Neiman said.

Although the drought cost ranchers and landowners heavily in livestock and lost income, there are some opportunities to come of it, said John Baccus, a wildlife ecologist and professor with Texas State University.

“We can change the way we manage land,” Baccus said. “Since droughts are somewhat common, we need to manage for drought instead of managing for a maximum number of animals.”

Learning to reduce to what is necessary to survive is important if droughts become the “new normal” in Texas, as Nielsen-Gammon expects may happen.

In Junction, handheld watering resumed on a schedule, but the issue of water rights still leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of some — and worries about the continuation of the drought run even deeper.

“If we continue to take away from the agriculture producer, when are we going to get to that point where we’re importing more food supplies than we’re producing ourselves?” said Roland Trees, a rancher in Real County who raises livestock and game.

Trees, who is on the water board of his county, says he lost some exotic game in the drought.

“It’s kind of worrisome, especially in our business, where we rely on the land,” he said. “Without any [water], we’re not able to grow anything.”

As the drought continues, Junction officials say they are looking for other water options. "We draw our water from the South Llano [River], so we know that we’re not really in the same situation as people are downstream from us, but we do have plans," said Vivian Saiz, Junction's secretary. "We’re testing a couple of wells, so that’s kind of our backup plan. We're researching groundwater."

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Experts from Texas Tech University are working with landowners near Junction to get a better idea of how many invasive axis deer are in the area and how the species can be better managed to reduce the impact on agriculture and native white-tailed deer.

The research is an extension of Dr. Matthew Buchholz’s dissertation on axis deer.

“In Junction, they go right up to the edge of town. They are a significant issue,” Buchholz said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Herds of several hundred are not that uncommon in the area. Near South Llano River State Park, I’ve personally seen a herd that was probably 300 to 350 individuals.”

Junction isn’t the only area impacted by the growing axis deer population.

“We did record changes in the vegetation communities that could have impacts on the health of the ecosystem primarily along the river,” Buchholz said. “South Llano River is considered ecologically significant by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department because it holds a number of endemic species, including Guadalupe Bass.”

Buchholz said any negative impacts on the health of the ecosystem near the river impacts land use around Junction and likely downstream.

“With the impacts we recorded from axis deer, they do have some potential substantial impacts that could have major concerns going downstream,” Buchholz said.

Axis deer can also displace native white-tailed deer.

“Axis are socially dominant to white-tail and will displace them from high value sets, such as optimal habitat. This could include supplemental feeders anywhere that basically has any kind of high value to the two species,” Buchholz said.

Displaced white-tailed deer are then pushed into areas with fewer, or lower quality, food sources.

“As axis densities continue to increase, they could have substantial impacts on keeping white-tail densities and also producing these quality white-tail that a lot of landowners and hunters are trying to get,” Buchholz said.

As axis deer take over areas with better resources for deer, they can also destroy a habitat.

“One axis eats about as much as one-and-a-half white-tail,” Blake Leslie, research coordinator at the Llano River Field Station, said. “With these exploding numbers that we’re seeing, it puts a piece of property at a very high risk for habitat destruction as far as good availability and quality of forage.”

Axis deer also negatively impact agriculture.

“Axis are probably closer in competition with sheep and goats than anything else, and particularly along these river systems where axis primarily occur, there is some sheep and goat agriculture in those riparian habitats,” Buchholz said. “Axis come in, and they can wipe out a hayfield relatively easy.”

Axis deer are not native to Texas. They were brought here from India by a landowner.

“Axis were introduced in 1932 into a high fence property in Kerr County,” Buchholz said. “Via intentional releases—both to high fence properties and low fence—and also escapes, there’s been a large increase in the free-ranging population.”

Although there have been prior surveys, researchers don’t really know how many free-ranging axis deer there are in Texas.

“Axis have a really high reproductive ability,” Buchholz said. “They can have a fawn every nine months. Fawn survival is through to be very high—potentially in the 70 to 80% range.”

In comparison, white-tailed fawn survival is heavily dependent on precipitation.

“In a good year, white-tail survival may be 40%,” Buchholz said. “So, axis fawn survival could be twice what white-tail is. It allows for their population to grow very quickly.”

Axis deer also tend to live longer. The oldest doe recorded was 15 years old.

With hunting, an old white-tailed doe in the area may be seven to eight years old.

To get a better idea of axis deer numbers in the area, so they can better be managed, the team is looking for ranch owners who are willing to allow spotlight surveys on their property.

“As part of his (Buchholz’s) research project, he created some very detailed protocols for how we’re going to be doing these spotlight surveys,” Leslie said. “Initially, nearly all of them were conducted on county roads. Now, we’re looking to transition from county roads to surveying on ranches.”

Leslie said there have been surveys in the past, but those likely drastically underestimated the number of axis deer.

“We are actively looking for people who own ranches in the Junction areas,” Leslie said. “Getting support from local people is going to become more and more important to what we’re trying to do out here with the spotlight surveys and a number of the other projects that we’re going to be starting soon or have already started.”

Interested landowners from the Junction area can contact Leslie at the Texas Tech University campus in Junction or by emailing [email protected].

One of the subtle beauties of the Texas Hill Country is the transition to more drought-tolerant trees and plants as travelers progress from east to west. To me, the Llano River feels like the first West Texas river San Antonio residents can reach within a day’s drive of the city.

For weeks, the river’s flow has been meager, but recent rains across Central Texas have busted the worsening drought and left many rivers flowing strong again. A group of us decided to paddle the Upper Llano River upstream of Junction on Memorial Day.

The Llano often has a braided channel more akin to the Pecos or the Devils rivers than the nearby Guadalupe River. It forms countless mini-channels and islands of sun-bleached limestone rocks, held together by small trees and native grasses and flowers.

Upriver from Junction, the Llano is basically a series of long, flat pools with short sections of shallow, fast-water riffles where it’s easy to take a wrong turn. In the shallows, the river flows clear enough to watch fish and turtles swimming along its rocky bottom.

Upper Llano River – First Highway 377 bridge to Junction

Offers: PaddlingLocation: First bridge on Highway 377 upriver from Junction (30.362014, -99.889150) to Highway 481 bridge, shortly before dam (30.487478, -99.762308). Camping and access with overnight or day use fee at South Llano River State Park (1927 Park Road 73, Junction, TX 76849). Trail miles: 17 river miles.Restrooms: Toilets and potable water at Schreiner Park and state park.

Another difference between the Llano and other Hill Country rivers is the wide-open sky arcing overhead. The bald cypress trees that cast shade over the Guadalupe, the Frio, and the Medina rivers are absent from the Llano, replaced by sparser sycamores and pecans.

In between the trees, we noticed fields of wildflowers, especially the red and yellow Mexican hats that seem to be thriving this year. We also for the first time this season found ripe, purple dewberries growing along the banks.

We had cool, cloudy weather on our Memorial Day paddle, with occasional squalls blowing through. But beware an afternoon on the Llano River during a hot summer day, when the sun can beat down relentlessly. Even if temperatures are low, sunscreen, a hat, and long sleeves are a good idea on this stretch.

Southwest Paddler, generally a good starting place for Texas river info, recommends a minimum flow of at least 65 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the Junction river gauge. Having done this section a few times, I would recommend a more enjoyable flow of at least around 100 cfs to avoid any dragging. We paddled on May 31 with the river at 180 cfs.

The plan was to meet at 9 a.m. under the Highway 481 bridge near Schreiner City Park in Junction, which offers public parking with easy river access. We would then put in at the first Highway 377 bridge 17 river miles north. We figured it would the five of us about eight hours to paddle back to Junction.

Sometimes, these trips don’t go as planned. One of our crew had a small hole in the hull of his boat, which was steadily filling up with water at about nine or 10 miles into the journey. It kept dragging lower and lower in the water, slowing him down.

Fortunately, he and the other experienced paddlers had brought along a piece of sophisticated, high-tech leak prevention technology: bubble gum.

I had never heard this before, but apparently, you can actually make a decent impromptu patch for your plastic kayak by shoving as big a wad of chewed bubble gum as possible into the leak. It worked well enough that our friend was able to mostly plug his leaky kayak, at least well enough to get him through the last two miles.

In the end, we cut our trip about 5 miles short by pulling out at the entrance road to South Llano River State Park. If you plan on a 12-mile trip that involves putting in or taking out at the park, make sure to make day-use reservations ahead of time because the access road and bridge over the river fall within park boundaries.

From there, two of the group walked the roughly 5 miles back to the car, while the other three waited with the gear at the park, finishing all the snacks we had packed for the rest of the journey. It took the walkers about two hours to make it back to the car and reunite with the loungers.

Sometimes, it’s more fun to quit a little early, rather than spend your afternoon struggling with a hull full of bubblegum.

This story has been updated to accurately reference Highway 377 as the road with Llano River access.

JUNCTION, Texas (KXAN) — A private dam proposed on the South Llano River, a major tributary to the Highland Lakes, is the center of a debate in the Hill Country this week as a public hearing set for Thursday evening approaches.

It all started in 2018 when then-CEO of Phillips 66, Gregory Garland, filed an application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, to dam up the river and create a private pool.

But under extraordinary drought and low river flow conditions, neighbors are worried about the strain this may put on a scarce resource.

“It’s too depressing to see it in the condition that it’s in right now,” Linda Fawcett said from the shores of the South Llano River in Junction, the water source for the community of 2,500 residents.

Fawcett has been coming to the South Llano since she was a child, and now serves as the President of the Llano River Watershed Alliance. She told KXAN the identity of many residents is intertwined with the river.

“The common link is how important this river is to their psyche, their very sense of self, their memories, their legacy,” Fawcett said.

But an extraordinarily hot, dry summer has pushed the City of Junction into stage four water restrictions.

“It never rains as much here as it does everywhere else,” Fawcett said.

The South Llano River at Flat Rock is currently flowing at just 25 cubic feet per second, roughly half of its typical August flow rate and the site’s lowest flow since Oct. 6, 2018, according to USGS data.

The proposed size of Garland’s private recreational pool, filed under Waterstone Creek LLC, is 12 acre-feet of water — roughly 3.9 million gallons. That’s enough water to cover an entire football field with water nine feet deep.

KXAN obtained this satellite image from Garland’s application of the proposed reservoir overlaid on the South Llano River, suggesting a dam wide enough to stretch across the entire channel.

The Lower Colorado River Authority, or LCRA, told KXAN the landowner has a 10-year contract to purchase 16 acre-feet of water per year from the state agency. A hydrologist estimates the landowner is purchasing this quantity of water from the LCRA to keep the impoundment full and offset evaporation losses, even though this water is upstream of the Highland Lakes reservoirs from which the LCRA typically distributes water.

The LCRA contract yields a total of more than 50 million gallons of water over the 10-year period that could otherwise flow into the Highland Lakes. That amount equals enough water to fill Austin’s Deep Eddy Pool 86 times.

TCEQ’s draft permit for the project states the landowner cannot store water during low-flow conditions, as it may prevent water from reaching downstream senior water right holders.

A hydrologist told KXAN when a reservoir is full, the landowner would allow excess water to spill over and travel downstream. But if the reservoir is not full during prolonged drought conditions, any water that flows in is stored in the reservoir even though the water legally belongs to someone downstream with senior rights.

We tried to get answers to how the landowner would navigate this problem, but were unable to reach Mr. Garland after leaving multiple messages.

“People are upset,” Fawcett said. “And that’s saying it lightly.”

“It’s a public river. And it should be for everybody, not just for one person to dam up for their own personal use,” Kingsland resident Stephanie West said.

County Commissioners from Llano, Mason and Kimble counties passed resolutions in 2022 urging the TCEQ to deny the dam permit, citing drought conditions and concerns about river flow.

Part of the outrage in the Hill Country stems from how the public comment period has been handled. According to the TCEQ, the homeowner seeking the permit must choose a newspaper to announce the application and public comment. Garland chose to publish in the Rocksprings Record and Texas Mohair Weekly — a small Edwards County publication — in May 2022.

Rocksprings-Record-Texas-Mohair-WeeklyDownload

The upcoming TCEQ public comment meeting is scheduled in Rocksprings, per TCEQ policy that the meeting must take place in the same county in which the dam is proposed. Rocksprings is a two-hour drive for concerned residents in Llano, a community of 3,300 that relies on the Llano River for water. Rocksprings is approximately three hours from Austin.

State Representative Andrew Murr, who represents Edwards County, urged TCEQ in a July letter to consider “a more central and easily accessible location.”

Landowners along the South Llano River said their biggest concern, if TCEQ approves this private dam, is that more homeowners along the Highland Lakes tributary will follow suit, further straining a river that is already running low.

“It could have serious impacts on flow,” said Marisa Bruno, Water Program Manager with the Hill Country Alliance. “As of [Tuesday] morning, the LCRA is measuring that all of the tributaries besides the Llano are contributing zero flow, which means that all of the water right now going into the Highland Lakes is coming from the Llano River.”

“If the state grants this permit and allows his private lake to be built up there and impound twelve acre-feet of water, it sets a precedent,” Llano Mayor Marion Bishop told KXAN over the phone.

KXAN attempted to get ahold of Houston-based Garland, who proposes building the dam at his Edwards County property, to ask him about these concerns. We were not able to reach anyone from the property gate.

We then tried reaching out by phone to cell phone numbers registered under Garland and his wife. One number had been disconnected, and we left multiple voicemails on the other. We will update this story when we hear back.

The TCEQ grants permits for private dams like the one Garland proposes. The three TCEQ commissioners are appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Since filing his application in 2018, Garland has donated at least $10,000 to Gov. Abbott’s campaign as an individual, according to Texas Ethics Commission filings.

Phillips 66, where Garland still serves as Executive Chairman of the Board, has a political action committee that has donated more than $50,000 to Abbott in that time.

For perspective, the governor’s top donors contribute more than $1 million each.

Privately-Owned Dams in Texas

Constructed since 2017

Source: Army Core of Engineers, Center for Geospatial Technology/Texas Tech University • Map created by Christopher Adams, KXAN

A Flourish map

Since 2017, a total of 10 private dams have been constructed in Texas.

According to TCEQ, a private dam application has two phases — an administrative review and a technical review.

During the administrative review, the Water Rights Permitting Program, or WRP, ensures the applicant completed all necessary steps on the application form. Once complete, the technical review includes a review to determine if there are impacts to other water rights or to the environment. TCEQ determined this proposal would not affect other water rights nor the environment.

The TCEQ public comment meeting will be in Edwards County Thursday, Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Rocksprings ISD school auditorium, located at 201 U.S. 377 North in Rocksprings.

TCEQ says a second public meeting will be held, although the location, date and time of that meeting has not yet been finalized.

Public comments can be submitted online referencing TCEQ Permit No. WRPERM 13524. TCEQ tells KXAN the organization looks at all public comments and considers those comments when making a final decision on the application.

A Change.org petition against construction of the dam had amassed more than 3,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning.

“We’ve got a lot of grassroots organizations that are not sitting back any more,” Fawcett said. “Whatever starts here, trickles all the way down to there. And trickle is not such a metaphor anymore.”