Central Texans have been watching and hoping for a “rain bomb” to thoroughly extinguish a years-long drought and replenish dangerously low reservoirs. A former governor even suggested that Texans pray for such relief.

Overnight Saturday, that big rain came, dumping up to a foot of rain over a large expanse of the Hill County, Austin and points to the east. The rainfall sparked a rapid rise in storage lakes throughout the area, but the storm exacted a steep price.

A Hays County man died and three people were reported missing in historic flooding along the Blanco River that inundated sections of Blanco, Wimberley, San Marcos, Martindale and Luling. A thousand or more people are left homeless.

In Wimberley, the river at its height reached at least 41 feet deep — the water gauge washed out at that point, officials said — about 8 feet above its all-time high in 1929 and 28 feet above flood stage.

The man who died, whose name was not released, was discovered in San Marcos Sunday afternoon, said Ken Bell, San Marcos’ emergency management coordinator. Separately, Hays County officials were searching for three missing Wimberley residents.

“We’re looking at over a thousand properties damaged,” Bell said. “We’re into the hundreds of just missing homes.”