Hundreds of homes and many major roads were flooded out in the Houston area, forcing schools, governments and businesses to close and causing power outages for thousands of residents.
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An Indian-American woman engineer was among six persons killed in “historic” flash flooding here that submerged scores of subdivisions and several major interstate highways and forced the closure of schools.
Two bodies were found in a vehicle which was spotted on traffic cameras driving around barricades as the driver attempted to navigate a flooded underpass in the city. At least 450 high-water rescues were conducted, he said.
“An average of 7.75 inches drenched the county overall, Linder said, meaning that some 240 billion gallons of water fell across the region – enough to surge through Niagara Falls for 88 consecutive hours”. Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority resumed service and most highways within the city were open.
The flooding this week made for some dramatic rescues, including a man who was seconds away from being submerged.
Other residents couldn’t safely stay in their flooded homes; at least five shelters have been set up across the city. It caused more than $5 billion in property damage in Harris County alone, the county’s Flood Control District said.
One man on the city’s north side emerged from flood waters carrying an armadillo by its armored tail to safety.
More than 470 flights were cancelled at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby Airport in the morning hours.
Around one million students were given the day off, with most colleges and universities also closed because of the bad weather. At least two interstates – I-10, the main east-west freeway, and I-45, the major north-south freeway – were under water near downtown. Herbert Martinez says crews monitoring the high water on the road saw the man drive directly into the water. Officials say it looked like the drivers were trying to get to work when they were caught in the flooding. “We say that in Houston so often, but you really never know how deep the water is”.
Fire Department spokesman Jay Evans said: “When you get off the freeways and off the main thoroughfares, you could be in water 10 to 15 feet deep”.
A flabbergasted TV reporter shouted that the man needed to leave the vehicle and then waded in to help him out.
More storms have been forecast for already saturated parts of Texas on Tuesday.
The flooding began to subside in some places Tuesday, but the Houston area can expect another 1 to 3 inches over the next few days, Javaheri said.
The Houston area is well acquainted with severe flooding – the city was inundated over Memorial Day past year – but many are calling this ferocious rainfall unprecedented. Bayous that a year ago overflowed after 11 inches of rain quickly rose again, putting water in at least 200 homes, the mayor said.
“In quintessential fashion, Texans have stepped up and aided their fellow Texans and have literally saved so many lives they cannot even be counted”, Abbott said.
“A lot of rain coming in a very short period of time, there’s nothing you can do”, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday.
Another north Houston resident posted video of people leaving their flooded homes in a canoe as the rain continued to fall. “There’s nothing I can say that’s going to ease your frustration”.
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Asked if man-made climate change could be a factor, he said the data is unclear but that the El Nino weather phenomenon, caused by heightened surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific, could “be a player in why we’re had so many big rain events this year”.
