The precipitation was expected to intensify as moisture from tropical depression Patricia, which struck the Pacific coast of Mexico on Friday as a very powerful hurricane, meets over Texas with a storm system coming from the west. “The high water is preventing us from getting a closer look, and with rain expected to continue for most of the day, it may be a while before the water recedes”.
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“She’s just down there with her friends and we were supposed to be down there and back up here by 10:30 tonight”, Lezlee said.
“That’s a rare event, something you usually don’t see unless it’s associated with a tropical system making landfall”, said National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Cavanaugh.
With rain falling at a rate of four inches per hour, rivers are swollen and the creaks upstream are loading with the inevitable prospect of more flash flooding throughout Sunday and Monday.
The main areas of heavy rain will shift from central and northeastern Texas eastward over the weekend, toward the Gulf Coast, the NWS said. Bolivar Peninsula is just northeast of Galveston Island.
“Everybody is on full alert”, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told reporters Saturday. Firefighters got to him and walked him to safety. His name and further details about his job weren’t immediately released.
The San Antonio Fire Department says the incident happened around 3 a.m. CDT Saturday. A man who fell into floodwaters and disappeared while walking with his girlfriend and a dog was declared missing.
The dog was safely retrieved.
This year, much of east Texas – and all of northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas and west-central Mississippi – have suffered through extreme or exceptional drought, the two highest classifications, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Forecasters predict eight to 12in (20-30cm) of rain will hit the coastal area by Monday morning, combined with tides of up to 5ft (1.5m). Moore said that since Friday morning, Corsicana has received 18 inches of rain and Powell has received 20 inches. A railroad spokesman said the two crew members swam to safety and nobody was hurt. The flood waters originated from an overflowing creek that washed away the tracks, CBS News reports. The train that derailed in Texas consisted of one locomotive and several rail cars that had gravel loaded onto them.
A few 75 water rescues from vehicles, homes and businesses had been carried out in Navarro County since Friday, Sheriff Elmer Tanner said.
The 64-car train was traveling from Midlothian to Houston. DeGraff had no immediate details on how many cars went off the tracks since the flooded area was not accessible to cleanup crews.
About 50 miles south of Dallas, Corisicana, which was inundated with flash flooding, was the hardest hit. Emergency workers diverted traffic from I-45, sending drivers in search of alternate routes, but that wasn’t always easy.
Saturday’s rainfall caused the cancellation of about 100 flights at Dallas Fort Worth global Airport, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Expect scattered showers into Sunday morning, says Bain, before the rains taper off. The weather service says a flash flood watch that now stretches into Sunday morning could expire later today.
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Corpus Christi, Laredo and Brownsville are under a flash flood watch through Sunday night.
