Good Morning El Paso: 05.26.15

“this is the highest flood that we’ve ever had in the recorded history in the state of texas.” texas once again getting slammed by deadly weather and flooding — the death toll rising, and others still missing. we have your stormtrack weather coverage. from wine to slides to rocking out — the borderland had plenty to do this memorial day weekend. a look at the impact on business. and could technology made by utep students soon be used in space? why nasa is looking at a team of utep space miners. “probably like 6 feet deep at the beltway, underneath the beltway on 1-10. That’s where i picked up like 6 people. take a look at that. thousands of drivers stranded in houston as a flooding emergency is now in effect — the first time ever for houston. deadly weather causing damage for many, and it’s only just the beginning for some places. good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. let’s go now to a live shot right now of houston… let’s go now and take live look outside this morning — courtesy of our abc-7 mountain cam. many of you getting back to work after the holiday weekend — and you’ll find it a bit warmer than it has been the past few days. let’s go now to meteorolgist krystal klei for the latest… good morning! today we’re looking great. this morning conditions are starting in the 50s and 60s. those temperatures will warm much more in the afternoon. we’re expecting highs into the upper 80s and nearing 90s, with the 90s expected in the days to come! the weather has been much worse to the east of us. we’re not expecting any rough weather. but rain chances will return to the forecast in a few days. that will bring winds and more clouds too. we’ll discuss coming up.plus we’ll talk more about what to expect for the rest of this work week and the weekend ahead coming up in your full forecast. relentless storms continue to hammer texas and the southern plains this morning. those storms now blamed for six deaths. and it’s not over yet. abc’s bazi kani has our stormtrack weather coverage… another dousing in texas. drivers in houston deciding whether to abandon their cars… or try to push through. hundreds forced to wait it out for hours inside the stadium after the rockets game ended. ==nats=== oh my god. oh my god! the raging flood waters in central texas… trashing around this s-u-v… and washing out hundreds of homes. ==sot=== “This was m wedding blackhawks sent in to rescue the stranded… as thousands are forced to evacuate the worst flooding they’ve ever seen. at least 5 dead… many others, still missing. ===sot=== sot Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas “you cannot candy coat it It’s absolutely massive.” just across the border– devastation from the tornado that slammed into this small town… killing 13. slamming cars into homes… flipping this school bus. the severe weather stretching all the way to the florida coast … where a beachgoer captured this video of waterspout coming ashore in fort lauderdale … launching a bounce house into the air! parents watching helplessly. ===sot== “i was crying, and i said oh my God, oh my god! i can’t believe this!” throughout the holiday weekend… red flag warnings posted. ===sot=== When i realized we were far out and i started to try and go back in, it just kept pulling me back out. lifeguards… rescuing dozens swept away by powerful rip currents. the death toll in hays county, texas is at one, with 12 others still missing this morning. take a look. this is what texas governor greg abbott saw as he flew above he blanco river yesterday. gov. abbott says this is the highest flood texas has had in recorded history. the floods washed away a cabin with two families, those 12 still missing. among the worst-affected communities are wimberley and nearby san marcos where hundreds of homes were destroyed. the memorial day weekend bought plenty of events to choose from here in the borderland. and abc-7 is looking into how it impacted local business. in anthony, thousands attend the klaq balloon fest. in las cruces … the southern new mexico wine fest attracted around 14,000. in downtown el paso — broadway show wicked plays to a packed audience at the plaza. and the three-day neon desert music festival has its biggest audience since starting five years ago. co- founder zach paul says in 2010 –it was a one-day show attracting about 10,000. now it’s a three day show attracting 45- thousand. rafael terrazas, owner of downtown bar and diner craft and social — says he’s been able to go from serving drinks, to dinner, to lunch, seven days a week. the neon desert team says they’ll start to plan next year’s festival this summer. no word on whether it will be three days again, or go back down to two. those downtown business owners aren’t just getting a boom from local events. when the neon desert festival does come back… some el pasoans will be lucky enough to walk just a few blocks to see it! new details are coming out about some downtown apartments set to open later this year! good morning el paso’s denise olivas has the story… denise? downtown el paso is addind new places to live at stanton and mills in the historic martin building. but it’s building’s sign that is creating some buzz. this is the building that will soon be renovated into apartments…smack in the middle of a busy downtown el paso. it will have two floors of retail space with 41 apartments above. in the works right now is also a massive marquee sign with the word “electric city” that’ll be placed above the building. our news partners– el paso inc. report that is the new name for that part of downtown. we found these photos of the gigantic sign being built at an art gallery in los angeles. the sign is expected to go up in the next few weeks. the el paso inc. also say rent for the apartments will start at just under 700 dollars per month. coming up– we’ll tell you how this sign is also recreating history. in the near future, nasa astronauts could use a tool in space designed and created by utep students! utep’s team of “space” miners will in houston next week to test their creation. the group is one of 18 in the nation chosen to be part of nasa’s “micro-g next program. it challenges students to work in teams to design and build protypes of tools to be used by astronauts during spacewalk training. utep students created what’s called a “float sampl grabber”… it’s a pin screen device, with steel rods and a plastic handle made at utep’s 3-d printing lab. it will collect rock samples from the surface of an asteroid: “This is just one of the things you run into in stem. Yes, the work is a lot harder, but at the end of the day, you put all your effort into it, you do as much as you can and the amount you get out, is really satisfying.” the group will present their creation to a team of engineers at nasa’s johnson space center. the group will head to houston on sunday. the tool could be used as early as 20. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… you may have noticed some improvements along 1-10. its all part of project to beautify the freeway. but its also attracting quite a bit of vandals. we’ll explain. and a former el pasoan got the concert experience of a lifetime. just how he managed to perform with the legendary band, u-2. but first — we’re looking at some hot temps headed our way. meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first!