BRENHAM, Texas - It's a night some in Brenham will never forget. It was the night the water carved a path through the city.
"I think the record shows that it was about 20 inches of rain that came down," said Chief Ricky Boeker with the Brenham Fire Department. "That is just unheard of for our area."
Streets are in ruins after buckling under the flooding that began on May 26 and lasted until the following day.
"We had water in areas that we've never had flooding issues before," said Chief Boeker, who also serves as the city's emergency management coordinator.
One of the hardest hit areas was the city's water treatment plant.
"At the local water plant on Austin Street, there was a bridge that got totally washed out," said Dane Rau, the City of Brenham's Public Works director.
The bridge was found a bout a quarter of a mile downstream.
Damage was scattered throughout the city but some of the most intense damage occurred at a bridge near Sycamore and Barbee Streets. Here, a portion of the bridge fell into a creek about 20 feet below. Damage like this adds to an already hefty price tag.
"Right now, we've estimated a majority of the damage is about $1.5 million," said Rau.
It's a number that could rise as more reports come in. City officials hope FEMA and insurance will cover most of the costs but the city and possibly the tax payers could foot part of the bill.
"We're really unsure on that," said Rau. "We haven't dealt with this at our city here but we are going to make sure that we get every dollar that we can accounted for and we turn it into FEMA."
For now, the city's services will operate as usual. People will simply have to put up with a few detours and yellow tape until permanent fixes can be made.
The City of Breham also says it sustained hail damage to City Hall, a radio tower was struck by lightning, and two police cars were also destroyed during the flood.