The Houston Independent School District, the United States’ seventh largest, said it would reopen on Wednesday after the flooding caused hundreds of schools to close earlier this week.
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A spokesman at Houston’s Emergency Operations Center says the body was found in the vehicle when the underpass at Westpark Toll Road at Interstate 610 was drained. A flabbergasted TV reporter shouted that the man needed to leave the vehicle and then waded in to help him out.
Emergency crews made more than 1,200 high-water rescues as some residents swam out of their homes, trying to reach rafts floating on streets.
Weather service meteorologist Charles Dalton of North Little Rock said the state should see “garden-variety” showers and light thunderstorms through Thursday evening.
We confirm that RJHS teacher, Charles Odum, passed away in rising flood waters. We live in times of constraint of public resources. They district asked for prayers for Odum’s family. In Greenspoint, among the worst-hit areas, the apartment evacuees could be seen rowing small blow-up boats, in the kind of scenes you see in the aftermath of a hurricane. There was the team of locals who rescued drowning horses near Cypress Creek in Humble. One spot near Huffmeister and Highway 6 unofficially recorded as much as 20 inches.
Emmett said Monday afternoon he estimates 240 billion gallons of rain has fallen in the Houston area. Incidents of extreme rainfall increased 16 percent in the Southwest region in the 54 years ending in 2012, according to the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment. We certainly can’t control the weather.
It is reported that over 17 inches of rain fell in one day in parts of the city, and at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport up to 4 inches of rain fell per hour. More than 1000 flights were cancelled at major Texas airports on Monday due to the storms, it said.
Portions of I-10 and numerous roads throughout the metropolitan area were closed, as were many government offices. The storms were part of a wide weather system that left warnings and watches through Tuesday morning for Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Tyler-Longview and as far east as Texarkana. Another man died in his auto when his vehicle became totally submerged in the water.
At the height of the flooding, about 123,000 homes had no power, said CenterPoint Energy, the utility company that serves most of the Houston area.
The downpour took place from late on Sunday to Monday morning.
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With more rain on the way, officials warn the danger isn’t over yet, telling residents to be cautious.
