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DAILY NZ P A G E 1A C O L O R CMYK P U B D A T E 07-05-02 O P E R A T O R CCI D A T E 07/05/02 T I M E 00:09

DAILY NZ P A G E 1A C O L O R CMYK P U B D A T E 07-05-02 O P E R A T O R CCI D A T E 07/05/02 T I M E 00:09

BY JOHN MACCORMACK

EXPRESS-NEWS STAFF WRITER

The death toll from a stormthat dropped more than a footand a half of rain on South-Cen-tral Texas rose to seven Thurs-day when the bodies of a SanAntonio couple were discoveredin their car as floodwaters be-gan receding from the OlmosBasin.

Meanwhile, President Bushdeclared 10 South Texas coun-ties Bexar, Bandera, Blanco,Comal, Gillespie, Hays, Kendall,Kerr, Medinaand Uvalde as disaster ar-eas, allowingresidents to ap-ply for federalassistance.

On Wednes-day, Gov. RickPerry re-quested a di-saster declara-tion for 29counties in theregion.

The presi-dential announcement came ashundreds of Comal County resi-dents fled to high ground in an-

ticipation of Canyon Lake over-flowing its dam spillway for thefirst time.

And, as intermittent heavyrains continued to fall Thursdayover the Hill Country, down-stream residents along the Me-dina, San Antonio and Guada-lupe rivers braced themselves asforecasters predicted recordcrests in some areas.

In advance of the rising wa-ters, authorities began orderingevacuations in some areas.

Flash flood warnings re-mained in effect for 20 SouthTexas counties through noon to-day, and copious rains hadbeen forecast for the areathrough Thursday night by theNational Weather Service.

NWS meteorologist Ken Wide-

lski said forecasters almost havegiven up trying to predict when

TOM REEL/STAFF

Angel Ximenes, with help from her mother, Cheryl Fennessey, hastily loads her be-longings onto trucks after police informed her she should evacuate her River Crest

Heights home near the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels. Her home is built on thesite where the 1998 flooding swept another dwelling away.

Bush says10 countieseligible forfederal aid

FLOOD OF 2002

See AREA/12A

BY ROGER CROTEAUAND CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON

EXPRESS-NEWS STAFF WRITERS

NEW BRAUNFELS Resi-dents evacuated from subdivi-sions along the Guadalupe Riverwaited nervously Thursday aswater from Canyon Lake, swol-len by runoff from a week ofheavy rain, rushed over thespillway for the first time.

The water surged over severalportions of the 300-yard wideearthen chute at the southernend of the lake and into thetrees growing at the top of a can-yon before cascading downhill

and eventually reuniting withthe Guadalupe.Less than a mile below the

spillway, the beginning of the

overflow fattened a quiet streaminto a boisterous brown torrent.

By this morning, the spillwaywas expected to be covered by 6feet of water, all of it pouringinto the narrow canyon andeventually down to New Braun-fels and Seguin, where residentsbraced for the flooding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engi-neers projected that the leadingedge of the overflow would takesix hours to reach CommonStreet in New Braunfels, andnine hours to reach Seguin.

The Gonzales-based Guada-lupe Valley Electric Cooperativeannounced late Thursday that it

would begin early today volunta-rily shutting off power to an es-timated 600 to 700 homes andbusinesses along the Guadalupe

River between New Braunfelsand Seguin.

Officials are concerned flood-waters could get into GVEC fa-cilities serving the areas andpresent safety hazards if thepower isnt disconnected,spokesman Mike Absher said.

Due to the way in which anelectric system is operated, youcould be affected by these powerinterruptions even though yourhome or business may not beimmediately threatened by anyflooding, Absher said.

Many of the homes are in sub-divisions around lakes Dunlap,McQueeny and Placid, he said.

Since Canyon Lake was filledin the 1960s, its level never had

Spillway watchers are eyewitnesses to history

GLORIA FERNIZ/STAFF

Since Canyon Lake was filled, its level never had breached the spill-way, although it came within a few inches in 1987.See NERVOUS/13A

M

Bodies ofcoupleretrievedfrom car/12A

San Antonio,Medina riversto haverecord-settingflows/14A

All of 281shouldreopentoday/14A

From theSan AntonioExpress-Newsand KENS 5. Get personalizednews and information.

Todays WeatherPartly cloudy

High 95, Low 75

Full weather report, Page 10C INDEXClassifieds 1E Drive 1G Movies 3H Sports 1C

Comics 6D Editorials 6B Puzzles 8D TV listings 5D

Deaths 4B Metro/State 1B S.A. Life 1D Weekender 1H

137th year, No. 275,148 pages. Entirecontents copyright2002, San AntonioExpress-News.This newspaper isrecyclable.

D

S E R V I N G S O U T H T E X A S S I N C E 1 8 6 5

50

FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2002

INSIDE San Antonianstry to put thisweeks flood,events of 9-11behind them/1B

From sea toshining sea,Americansdisplay theirpatrioticfervor/8A

Upward of500,000 turnout for a hottime in nationscapital/8A

FESTIVE FOURTH OF JULY

KIN MAN HUI/STAFF

LEFT: Despiterecent rains andheavy floodingin the area, SanAntonians cameout toWoodlawn Laketo take in aFourth of Julycelebration.

Venus and Serena Wil-liams breeze throughtheir semifinal matches,setting up their thirdtitle match in the pastfour Grand Slams.

Page 1C

Sister Act IIIat Wimbledon

ALASTAIR GRANT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY KENNETH R. WEISSAND MITCHELL LANDSBERG

LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES Defyingstepped-up security at Los An-geles International Airport, aman pulled a gun and openedfire Thursday at a busy ticketcounter of El Al Israel Airlines.

The man killed two peopleand wounded several others be-fore an El Al guard shot himdead, authorities said.

Although Israeli officials be-lieved the shooting was an act ofterrorism, mirroring those car-ried out repeatedly in recentmonths on Israeli soil, U.S. au-thorities said there was no indi-cation the motive was political.

The shooter wasnt immedi-ately identified.

Passengers and others whowitnessed the attack said thegunman a stocky, middle-agedindividual with features de-scribed as Middle Eastern or La-tino appeared to grow agi-tated while talking to a ticketagent at the El Al counter.

He pulled out a gun and shother, then began firing at peoplein line, witnesses said.

There were people laying all

over the floor. There was blood,said Arie Golan, who joined asecurity guard in wrestling theman to the floor.

Witnesses said the securityguard shot the man once atclose range after the attacker

had been disarmed and was be-ing held on the floor.

The shooting occurred at anairport that has been on highalert for a terror attack, on a ho-liday when the entire nationwas warned to be on the lookoutand at the counter of an airlinegenerally considered to have thebest security in the world.

The gunfire, which began justbefore 11:30 a.m., forced the evac-

Gunman goes on rampageinside Los Angeles airport

FBI is probing deadly

incident at El Al

counter.

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See GUNMAN/6A

Canyon Dam spills overas area death toll mounts