Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Texas floodwaters lead to rescues
Houston-area residents ‘preparing for the worst’
HOUSTON — High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property.
Floodwaters inundated a wide region Saturday, from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waisthigh waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home. A flood watch remained in effect through Sunday afternoon as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night to the soaked region and the likelihood of major flooding.
“It’s going to keep rising this way,” Miguel Flores Jr. of Kingwood said. “We don’t know how much more. We’re just preparing for the worst.”
Aron Brown, 45, and his wife Jamie Brown, 41, were two of the many residents who drove or walked to watch the rising waters near a flooded intersection close to the San Jacinto River in the northeast Houston neighborhood of Kingwood.
The floodwaters had risen several feet and had begun to flood nearby restaurants and a gas station.
Brown, who had driven from his home in a golf cart, said the flooding wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He pointed to nearby power lines and said that flooding during Harvey had reached the top of the lines.
Friday’s fierce storms forced numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes. Officials redoubled urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning the worst was still to come.
“A lull in heavy rain is expected through (Saturday) evening,” according to the National Weather Service. “The next round of heavy rainfall is expected late (Saturday) into Sunday.”
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Saturday that the area is expecting more rain on Sunday and if it’s a lot, it could be problematic. Hidalgo is the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county.
Most weekends, Miguel Flores Sr. is mowing his huge backyard on a 2 1/2 acre lot behind his home in Kingwood. But on Saturday, he and his family were loading several vehicles with clothes, small appli- ances and other items before flood waters inundated his home.
Waters from the nearby San Jacinto River had swallowed his backyard and continued to rise on Saturday.
Flores said the water in his backyard was only about 1 foot high on Friday. On Saturday, the water level now measured about 4 feet.
“It’s sad, but what can I do,” Flores said. He added that he has flood insurance.
For weeks, drenching rains in Texas and parts of Louisiana have filled reservoirs and saturated the ground. Floodwaters partially submerged cars and roads this week across parts of southeastern Texas, north of Houston, where high waters reached the roofs of some homes.
More than 21 inches of rain fell during the five-day period that ended Friday in Liberty County near the city of Splendora, about 30 miles northeast of Houston, according to the National Weather Service.
Hidalgo said Saturday that 178 people have been rescued and 122 pets have been rescued so far in the county. Scores of rescues took place in neighboring Montgomery County. In Polk County, located about 100 miles northeast of Houston, officials said they have done over 100 water rescues in the past few days.