HOUSTON (AP) — Severe storms hit the Houston area again Friday, expanding their reach. Already dangerous flooding In Texas, a stranded driver and children’s school bus require rescue from high water. Authorities doubled down on emergency evacuation orders for low-lying residents and warned the worst was yet to come.
“This threat is ongoing and will get worse. This is not a typical river flood,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county. he said.
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.
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.
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.
“Next thing you know, they started releasing more water from the Livingston dam overnight. So overnight the river level rose almost five to six feet,” Fernandez said. Told. 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 Abandoned in 2017 historic rainfall Thousands of homes were flooded in the area, with more than 60,000 damaged. rescue By government rescue workers throughout Harris County.
The National Weather Service said more than 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain had fallen in the past 24 hours and issued a flood warning for the region until Tuesday.
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 the eastern part of the county, where water levels were expected to continue rising as more rain falls and authorities release excess water from already full reservoirs. The state of Hidalgo on Thursday issued a mandatory evacuation order for people living in parts of the river.
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.
Hidalgo warned residents living along rivers in the southern part of the county that they could be stranded for several days if they stay in their homes. Evacuation shelters were opened throughout the region, including nine operated by the American Red Cross.
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.
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.
___
Associated Press writers Ken Miller in Edmond, Okla., Jim Bertuno in Austin and Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, contributed to this report.
___
Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
