Rain again stymies annual music fest
Storms trigger street flooding, water rescues, delays and cancellations
Thunderstorms and torrential rain scatter around Houston causing street flooding, high-water rescues and a major lightning-related fire, and force the cancellation of the Free Press Summer Fest.
Severe thunderstorms soaked the Houston area over the weekend, causing street flooding throughout the region, prompting more than a dozen water rescues, starting at least one major lightning-related fire and forcing the cancellation of the Free Press Summer Fest.
The National Weather Service predicts even more thunderstorms will develop through Tuesday night.
“There’s potential for (heavy rainfall) to happen again (Monday) morning during the drive time,” said Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “We encourage people to exercise caution and watch the forecast.”
Thunderstorms with periods of torrential downpours scattered throughout the Houston region on Saturday and Sunday as rain fell at rates of 2.5-4 inches per hour in some locations. The NWS issued a flash flood warning for Galveston on Sunday morning and for Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties Sunday.
Harris County’s west and northwest regions were hit hardest, with more than a dozen locations receiving an inch of rain in just 15 minutes Sunday after-
noon, Sanchez said.
Areas near downtown Houston — including the Heights, Allen Parkway, Montrose and Midtown — saw some of the worst of the street flooding, however, because they received heavy rainfall in a shorter period of time. Katy, Tomball, Spring Branch, CyFair and a number of other places in the region also experienced street flooding. The flooding was expected to recede by Sunday night, Sanchez said.
The Houston Fire Department performed over a dozen water rescues of stranded motorists but with no serious injuries, said HFD spokesman Capt. Ruy Lozano. HFD also responded to a twoalarm fire Sunday afternoon, but it is unknown whether the fire was caused by lightning, Lozano said.
A lightning strike on Saturday night did start a fire at an apartment complex in Conroe, destroying eight units and displacing 41 people. No one was injured in the blaze, according to the Conroe Fire Department. The fire spread rapidly, most likely because the complex, the Autumnwood Apartments, was built in 1983 and did not have fire sprinklers, according to CFD Assistant Fire Chief Mike Legoudes.
The American Red Cross is assisting the displaced residents.
The weather also delayed flights at George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports by up to four hours Sunday afternoon and caused the Free Press Summer Festival, which was being held in Eleanor Tinsley Park near downtown, to be evacuated and canceled.
As Houston has been hit repeatedly by increasingly serious flooding in recent years, Sanchez said that it is natural for area residents to be on edge whenever a storm comes but that the thunderstorms striking this week are not likely to reach a disaster level.
“This is definitely the sort of thunderstorm we’d be watching very carefully,” Sanchez said. “(But) this isn’t going to be something like that. … It’s just a typical thunderstorm.”
Still, Sanchez emphasized the importance of exercising caution.
“The best thing for folks to do is check the forecast and conditions before they head out on the road,” Sanchez said.