Staying put in Fort Bend, for now

Posted 11:35 a.m.

Celestino Carrillo stood at the front door of his Richmond home, looking out through the screen.

Nearby, the Brazos River was rising. The flowing waterway at 45 feet already had reached flood stage, meaning some surrounding areas were beginning to see water seep over them.

Carrillo, 66, smoked a cigarette and said he didn’t plan to leave just yet from his home, where he had lived the last 35 years. The one-story, white paneled house hadn’t flooded the year prior, like the homes of many of his neighbors. But this time, experts predicted the river to reach unprecedented heights.

The National Weather Service expected the Brazos to rise 10 feet more in the next 24 hours, on its way to a record 59-foot crest expected in the days to come.

Some neighbors in the area already had evacuated in the days prior, clearing out their homes in at least a few cases. Mandatory evacuations were underway throughout large swaths of the county in the path of the rising river waters, including places such as Sienna Plantation, likewise previously believed to be largely safe from floods.

Dressed in his pajamas midmorning Monday, Carrillo explained that it felt like a Sunday, with little to do. The news played on a TV inside. He wasn’t able to go to his usual dialysis appointment because staff hadn’t been able to arrive. His wife was home from work.

The father had one main task: watching the drainage ditches, which had emptied that morning, to see if water started backing up into them.

“I am looking at it,” Carrillo said. “If I see that water coming back out instead of going the other way, it’s time to go.”

The breeze blew past, and the trees and grass stood out in a vibrant green against the gray skies. Rain still fell. “Life still goes on,” he said.