Emergency crews with the Caney Creek Fire Rescue Boat rescue a dog from a flooded area on River Plantation Drive in River Plantation on Friday, May 3, 2024.
Jason Folkman | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
Hundreds of people were rescued from homes, rooftops and roads Sunday as more storms swept through an already saturated Houston area, causing flooding caused by torrential rain.
“We’re going to have some rain today, and some of the storms could produce heavier downpours,” National Weather Service meteorologist Haley Adams said.
She said more than 20 inches of rain fell in northeast Houston near Lake Livingston last week, while up to 12 inches fell in northeastern Harris County, the largest area in the United States, during the same period.
Adams said Sunday’s storm is expected to bring up to 3 inches of rain, with up to 8 inches possible in some areas.
“This is going to keep going up,” said Miguel Flores Jr., who lives in the Kingwood neighborhood in northeast Houston. “We don’t know how many more there are going to be. We’re just doing it. worst plans.”
Authorities in Houston have not reported any deaths or injuries, and swaths of the city from Houston to rural eastern Texas have been inundated.
Floods force troops to evacuate
Most weekends, Flores’ father, Miguel Flores Sr., mows the lawn in the large 2.5-acre (1-hectare) backyard behind their Kingwood home. But on Saturday, he and his family loaded several vehicles with clothes, small appliances and other items.
Water from the San Jacinto River had engulfed his backyard and continued to rise, from about 1 foot high in the yard on Friday to about 4 feet high the next day.
As the storm forced large numbers of rescuers to carry out high-water rescue operations, some from the roofs of flooded homes, officials doubled down on emergency instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate and warned that the worst was yet to come.
Late Saturday afternoon, 68-year-old Greg Moss stood next to a golf cart and looked toward the road leading to his property in eastern Harris County near the San Jacinto River. There was several feet of water on the road to my home in Channelview, a community.
Moss managed to pack up many of his belongings and leave before the road flooded on Saturday.
“I would be trapped for four days,” Moss said. “So now at least I can go get something to eat.”
He moved his belongings and vehicle to a neighbor’s house and stayed there until the floodwaters receded. Moss said he wasn’t worried about his home being flooded because it’s on higher ground.
Houston is prone to flooding
Houston is one of the most flood-prone metropolitan areas in the United States. The city of more than 2 million people has long experience dealing with devastating weather.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey brought historic rainfall that flooded thousands of homes and led to Harris County government rescue crews rescuing more than 60,000 people.
The Greater Houston area covers approximately 10,000 square miles, slightly larger than the state of New Jersey. It is crisscrossed by approximately 1,700 miles of waterways, creeks, and bayous that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 50 miles southeast of downtown.
The estuary and reservoir system was built to drain water, but the project, originally designed nearly 100 years ago, has struggled to keep up with urban growth and bigger storms.
Aron Brown, 45, and Jamie Brown, 41, were two of the many residents who drove or walked to a flooded intersection near the San Jacinto River to watch the rising water. . Nearby restaurants and gas stations began to flood.
What to expect next
Rainfall in the area is expected to taper off by the evening, said National Weather Service meteorologist Adams. But next, residents recovering from the flooding will have to deal with hot and humid weather.
She said the region’s heat index could reach triple digits this week due to lingering moisture from the rain and temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
“We want people to be aware of rising temperatures, heat stroke, heat stress,” she said.
