Recovery a faraway thought for East Texas flood evacuees as more rain is expected

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.

COLDSPRING – Willie Rawls woke up to water at the steps of his home Thursday in the river bottoms of Coldspring – one of the first towns hit by the several hundred thousand gallons of water released from the Lake Livingston Dam.

The dam was releasing water in an effort to maintain its levels as merciless rain storms drenched East Texas this week.