Catherine Rusoff
The Houston area was under threat of worsening flooding conditions Saturday, a day after severe storms pummeled the region and authorities warned people in low-lying areas to evacuate ahead of an expected “catastrophic” rise in water.
A flood warning remained in effect through Sunday afternoon as forecasters predicted additional rain Saturday night, bringing another 1 to 3 inches of water to the soggy region and the likelihood of major flooding. In total, about 11 million people in Texas and Oklahoma are under flood watches and warnings this weekend.
Friday’s storms forced several high-water rescues, including some from the roofs of flooded homes. Almost 200 such rescues were recorded. One such incident was caught on camera when someone filmed a large truck being dragged while its driver jumped out of the cab. The driver was later rescued.
Authorities doubled down on urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning that 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.
She described the predicted rise in water as “catastrophic” and said several hundred structures were at risk of flooding. There had already been at least two dozen water rescues in the municipality, in addition to taking 30 pets to a safe place. Schools that were in the path of the floods canceled classes and roads were congested as authorities closed highways receiving water.
Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspap
For weeks, torrential rains in Texas and parts of Louisiana filled reservoirs and saturated the ground. Floodwaters partially submerged cars and roads this week in parts of southeast Texas north of Houston, where waters reached the roofs of some homes. Hundreds of structures are flooded and others face power cuts.
More than 28 inches of rain fell during a 24-hour period that ended Friday morning in the north Houston suburb of Spring, according to the National Weather Service.
In the rural community of Pastor, Gilroy Fernandes said he and his wife had about an hour to evacuate after a mandatory order. Their home sits on stilts near the Trinity River, and they felt relief when the water began to recede on Thursday.
Then the danger increased while they slept.
“The next thing you know, overnight they started releasing more water from Livingston Dam. And that caused the river level to rise almost 5 or 6 feet overnight,” Fernandes said. Neighbors who left an hour later were stuck in traffic because of the floodwaters.
In Montgomery County, Judge Mark Keough said there were more high-water rescues than he was able to count.
“We estimate we’ve had a couple hundred rescues of homes, of homes, of vehicles,” Keough said.
In Polk County, located about 100 miles northeast of Houston, authorities have performed more than 100 water rescues in recent days, said Courtney Comstock, Polk County emergency management coordinator.
She said homes below the Lake Livingston dam and along the Trinity River were flooded.
“It will be when things calm down before we can do our damage assessment,” Comstock said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it evacuated a few hours old baby by helicopter from Cleveland, Texas, amid flooding. The baby, who was just 12 hours old, was experiencing low oxygen levels at Texas Emergency Hospital. The hospital does not have a neonatal intensive care unit and the floods made it impossible to transport the baby to another unit by ambulance. The helicopter crew transported the baby, mother and a paramedic to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. The baby is in stable condition, the Coast Guard said.
Houston authorities reported no 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 long experience dealing with devastating weather conditions.
Hurricane Harvey in 2017, it dumped historic rainfall on the area, flooding thousands of homes and resulting in more than 60,000 rescues by government rescuers throughout Harris County.
Of particular concern was an area along the San Jacinto River in the northeastern part of Harris County that was expected to continue to rise as more rain fell and authorities released extra water from an already full reservoir. Judge Hidalgo on Thursday issued a mandatory evacuation order for those living along parts of the river.
Most of Houston’s city limits were not heavily affected by the weather, except for the northeastern neighborhood of Kingwood. Officials said the area had about four months of rain in about a week. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said rising floodwaters from the San Jacinto River are expected to impact Kingwood Friday night and Saturday.
Shelters were opened across the region, including nine by the American Red Cross.
The weather service reported the river was above 69 feet around noon Friday and was expected to peak at 78 feet Friday night. The river is expected to drop below the flood level of 58 feet Tuesday afternoon, according to the weather service.
The Houston metropolitan area covers about 10,000 square miles – an area slightly larger than New Jersey. It is crossed by around 2,700 kilometers of canals, streams and streams that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, around 80 kilometers southeast of the city center.
The city’s system of streams and reservoirs was built to drain heavy rains. But engineering initially designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with the city’s growth and larger storms.
Residents in rural areas of Central and West Texas are also working to recover from tornadoes which left a trail of damage. In Hawley, Texas, two people were injured Thursday and tornadoes left a trail of damage. This weekend’s storms pose the threat of more tornadoes.
Texas isn’t the only area facing severe weather this weekend. Americans from Louisiana to Oregon are under threat from severe, slow-moving storms. In Oregon’s Cascades region, a winter weather warning has been issued as the region braces for at least a foot of snow, according to local media.
Vice President Kamala Harris canceled a planned trip to a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, after the event was canceled due to a high wind warning. Organizers said they expect winds between 30 and 35 miles per hour, with gusts up to 60 miles per hour.
