Flood waters overturned a military vehicle at Fort Hood base in Texas, killing five soldiers and leaving four others missing, authorities said.
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The bodies of five other soldiers were recovered Thursday, while the bodies of the four remaining missing soldiers were found Friday.
A Fort Hood spokesman confirmed late Thursday that two more soldiers from the capsized truck were found dead.
A paramedic who treated three Fort Hood soldiers who survived after their truck overturned in swift waters Thursday said after the rescue that they were exhausted and anxious about their fellow soldiers.
Fort Hood has seen 2½ to 3 inches of rain from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon according to radar estimates, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Talley in Fort Worth. “It is just an unfortunate accident that happened quickly”.
“We’ve lost nine of our fearless soldiers in this incident”, General Uberti told reporters during a press conference Friday afternoon.
Aircraft, boats, dogs and “heavy ground equipment” were deployed by multiple agencies to search for the missing soldiers, who were from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Three soldiers rescued shortly after the accident have been released from the hospital.
“You know part of our warrior ethos is that I will never leave a fallen comrade and were it not for the professionalism and compassion of these emergency services personnel it would have taken us much longer to live up to our ethos”, says Major General Uberti. “It demonstrates the need of everyone to understand the power of rising water and the danger it can pose to life”.
Heavy rains are forecast to hit Houston and eastern Texas through the weekend, likely causing more flooding, it said.
This week’s storms are the latest in a string of torrential rains since May 2015 that have put swaths of the state underwater.
The river at Richmond in Fort Bend County, where flood stage is 48 feet, was 54.35 feet Friday morning, down slightly from Thursday. Flood stage is 43 feet.
Haug said the soldiers were on a mission that “they do every day”, and driving on “a normal dirt road” that was not known to be a problem. About 1,700 inmates were being moved from the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon.
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It relocated about 2600 inmates from two other facilities this week due to flooding on the same river.
