Severe storms once again battered the Houston area Friday, exacerbating Texas’ already dangerous flooding and prompting numerous high-water rescues, including rescues from the roofs of flooded homes. Authorities doubled down on emergency evacuation orders for low-lying residents and warned the worst was yet to come.
“This threat continues and will only get worse. This is not a typical river flood,” said Harris County Judge Lina, the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county.・Mr. Hidalgo said.
Thunderstorms forecast, flash flooding possible from Florida to Texas
She described the surge of water as “catastrophic” and said hundreds of buildings were at risk of flooding. There have already been at least 20 water rescues in the county, with 30 pets safely rescued. Schools in the path of the floodwaters canceled classes and roads were congested as authorities closed flooded highways.
Severe storms continue to batter the Houston area. The already dangerous flooding has expanded as first responders have launched numerous high water rescue operations, including rescuing people from the roofs of flooded homes. (Fox News)
Weeks of heavy rain in parts of Texas and Louisiana have filled reservoirs and flooded the ground. This week, flooding in parts of Southeast Texas north of Houston partially submerged cars and roads, and high water reached the roofs of some homes.
More than 8 inches of rain fell in the Spring area of Houston’s northern suburbs in the 24 hours ending Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flood warning for the area through Tuesday.
In the rural community of Shepherd, Gilroy-Fernandez said she had about an hour to evacuate with her spouse following a mandatory order. Their home is on stilts near the Trinity River, and they said they were relieved when the water started receding Thursday.
And while they slept, the danger increased.
“Then, overnight, we started releasing more water from the Livingston dam. So overnight, the river level rose almost 5 to 6 feet,” Fernandez said. Neighbors who left an hour later were stuck in traffic because of the flooding.
In Montgomery County, Judge Mark Keogh said there have been countless high water rescues.
“We estimate there have been hundreds of home, home and vehicle rescues,” Keogh said.
Officials conducted more than 100 water rescues in Polk County, about 100 miles northeast of Houston, in recent days, said Polk County Emergency Management Coordinator Courtney Comstock.
She said homes below the Livingston Lake Dam and along the Trinity River were flooded.
“We will assess the damage once the situation has calmed down,” Comstock said.
Houston authorities have not reported any deaths or injuries. The city of more than 2 million people is one of the most flood-prone metropolitan areas in the country and has years of experience dealing with devastating weather.
Hurricane Harvey in 2017 brought historic rainfall to the region, flooding thousands of homes and resulting in more than 60,000 people being rescued by government rescue workers across Harris County.
In Crosby, the driver of a school bus carrying 27 students on Friday stopped the vehicle just before the water rose, school officials said. The students exited through the back door and were taken to campus on another bus. Crosby School District Superintendent Paula Patterson said she was “proud of the bus driver’s quick action.”
Of particular concern were areas along the San Jacinto River in northeast Harris County, where water levels are expected to continue rising as more rain falls and officials release excess water from already full reservoirs. was. Judge Hidalgo on Thursday issued a mandatory evacuation order for people living along parts of the river.
In some areas along the river, “it is too late to pre-emptively evacuate and people are being helped off the roofs,” Hidalgo wrote on X Friday afternoon. Residents in the west or south of the region still have time to evacuate or “otherwise be prepared to remain in place for two to three days.”
Most of Houston’s city limits were not significantly affected by the weather, with the exception of the Kingwood area in the northeast. Officials said the region received about four months’ worth of rain in about a week. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said rising flood waters from the San Jacinto River are expected to impact Kingwood late Friday and late Saturday.
“The water is coming our way. … We have time to prepare, but in a few hours it won’t be passable,” Whitmire said at the Kingwood fire station.
Evacuation shelters have been set up throughout the region, including nine operated by the American Red Cross.
The river level was expected to exceed 69 feet (21.03 meters) around noon Friday and peak at 78 feet (23.77 meters) Friday night, the National Weather Service reported. It is expected to fall below flood stage of 58 feet (17.68 meters) by Tuesday afternoon, the weather service said.
In the city of Conroe, just north of Houston, rescue crews drove boats into nearby subdivisions to rescue people and pets from their homes and take them from the boats to higher ground. In nearby Livingston, neighborhoods were flooded, with water rising beneath the windshields of moving vans and the windows of some buildings.
Storms over the past month have dumped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain in parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.
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The greater Houston area covers approximately 10,000 square miles, an area slightly larger than New Jersey. It is approximately 50 miles (approximately 80 kilometers) southeast of downtown and is crisscrossed by approximately 1,700 miles (2,736 kilometers) of waterways, streams, and bayous that empty into the Gulf of Mexico.
The city’s bayous and reservoir systems were built to drain heavy rains. But the engineering first designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with urban growth and larger storms.
