ONLY THE ROOF OF A car driven by Gloria Harrison of Streetman remains above water after she was swept off Texas 75 when Tehuacana Creek flooded last week. A series of rain storms last week dumped as much as a foot of water on parts of Freestone county, flooding roads, washing out bridges and resulting in a pair of water rescues.

The rains started Monday, April 27, and continued through Wednesday morning, with few breaks.

Unofficial reports indicate that rain was heavier in the western part of the county where as much as 12 inches was reported, tapering to 6-8 inches around Fairfield and 3-4 inches in the east.

Freestone county emergency management coordinator Loren Miller reports that a dozen county road bridges were damaged or destroyed in the storms.

In precinct four, which covers the western part of the county, eight bridges were damaged or destroyed, a bridge was destroyed on CR 1151 in precinct three and three bridges, on CR 841, CR 842 and CR 900, in precinct two were affected.

Freestone county commissioners met in an emergency session last Thursday to approve a declaration under which bridges can be repaired and rebuilt without going through the regular governmental bidding process.

THIS BRIDGE ON FCR 1151 is one of several damaged or destroyed during heavy rains across Freestone county. Damage was heaviest and rainfall was greatest in the western part of the county. A bridge on Texas 75 north of Fairfield was completely submerged when Tehuacana Creek rose, and damaged to an extent that the highway has been closed from FM 833 north to Spur 114.

Water also covered a part of I-45, closing down one lane of traffic in the Tehuacana Creek area.

At the Texas 75 bridge, water washed away the creek bank at the entrances to the bridge, leaving areas of unsupported asphalt. Extent of the damage will be determined after the water level in the creek drops.

One of two water rescues performed last Wednesday took place near the closed Texas 75 bridge when a car driven by Gloria Harrison of Streetman was washed into Tehuacana Creek.

Game Warden Craig Hernandez reports that he received a call about 9 a.m. that someone was trapped in the woods near the bridge and arrived on the scene with a rescue boat.

"We could hear somebody in the woods," Hernandez says. "Luckily, the waters had receded below the roadway, which made the water calmer."

Hernandez pushed and poled the flat-bottom boat about 75 yards into the woods where he found the woman clinging to a tree.

Her car was submerged, except for part of its top and trunk, at the tree line along the east side of the highway.

The game warden says that the woman had been stranded in the water about four hours prior to her rescue.

Earlier Wednesday, about 3 a.m., Hernandez was directed to CR 141 north of Fairfield and north of its intersection with CR 161, to rescue three persons whose vehicle had been washed off the road.

The Freestone county game warden reports that he was joined at the scene by Game Warden Oscar Henson of Leon county and Game Warden Randy Harper of Limestone, who both brought boats, and Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Taz Martin.

Hernandez and Martin launched a boat from CR 141 and started a search for the three victims, with the game warden piloting the boat and Martin aboard searching with a flashlight.

The three victims, two men identified as Jeremy Hanrahan and Ryan Campbell and an unidentified female, were located in the branches of a tree more than a quarter mile from the county road.

"It was a dangerous situation," the Hernandez says.

He notes that he was unable to turn the boat into the current because there was not room, and had to approach the tree at an angle to try and maintain stability.

Hernandez and Martin got one of the men out of the tree and into the boat, but the female fell into the water, went under water and grabbed a tree branch when she surfaced before she could be safely dragged into the boat.

The rescuers took the man and woman back to the county road, leaving the third victim with a life jacket and flashlight, then returned to complete the rescue.

The game warden says that the three were driving on CR 141 in a pickup truck when they encountered water over the roadway. One of the men started walking through the water in front of the vehicle to determine if it was safe to continue, and when he determined it was not safe the truck had started to float off the road.

The victims called for emergency help on cellular telephones, the game warden reports, and were believed to be on top of the floating vehicle.

No sign of the truck has been found.

Aside from damage to roads and bridges, and danger to motorists, there has been a silver lining to the storms which dumped much needed moisture in the county.

"It's going to help us a good bit. Our grass was a little bit slow and as soon as the tempuratures warm up we will see some exponential gras growth," county extension agent Nick Hoffman says.

"The main thing is this winter our ponds were low and now we don't have to go into summer with low pond water," he adds.

Capps Ag Center of Fairfield owner Barry Capps reports that ranchers have been applying fertilizer to pastures and that the start to the rains—- showers fell sporadically a few days prior to the storms—-should help.

"The way this fell, it didn't rain enough to lead out the fertilizer," Capps says.