begin quote from:
Floods Shut Down Most of Houston, With More Than 1000 Rescued
| Wall Street Journal | - |
Widespread
flooding caused by heavy rains prompted more than 1,000 water rescues
and may be responsible for at least five deaths, local officials said
Monday afternoon.
- 59
Floods Shut Down Most of Houston, With More Than 1,000 Rescued
Heavy rains force the cancellation of hundreds of flights and may have caused at least 5 deaths
Storms dumped more than a foot of
rain in the Houston area, flooding dozens of neighborhoods and forcing
the closure of city offices, schools, and the suspension of public
transit. Photo: AP
Heavy rains pounded the Houston area, submerging streets, trapping residents in apartments, and largely shutting down the city, according to emergency-management officials. All of the dead were found in vehicles, officials said.
Some 240 billion gallons of rainfall drenched the area, the worst flooding event in Harris County since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in Harris and eight other counties due to the severe weather.
Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management officials said that 897 water rescues had taken place within the Houston city limits, and several hundred more had occurred in the county. The storm swept into the region on Sunday and began drenching the Houston area late Sunday night as more than a foot of rain soaked some sections of the city.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday afternoon that the rain was expected to taper off, but flooding hit the northern part of the city especially hard, as Houston’s bayous and creeks overflowed their banks.
“There is water all over the place, flooding all over the place,” Mr. Turner said.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said at least a thousand homes had been flooded and several thousand people had been displaced as a result of the rains. Emergency shelters were being opened across the city. Some areas of the city hadn’t seen this level of flooding in many years, he said.
The Houston Independent School District, the largest public school system in Texas and seventh-largest in the country, was closed Monday. And more than 44,000 people were without power, officials said.
City offices and courts were closed, as emergency workers and fire officials fanned out across Houston, responding to service calls regarding the flooding. Some 800 flights had been canceled at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, according to the airport’s twitter account.
The public bus and light rail system that serves the Houston metropolitan area suspended operations Monday due to the storm.
An average of 7.5 inches of rain had fallen across the county, with some areas receiving up to 20 inches, local officials said.
In the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston, police turned motorists away from a submerged Interstate on-ramp. A portion of I-45, a major freeway that runs between Dallas and Houston, had flooded in both directions, snarling the northbound lanes where motorists were trying to escape the rising water. By Monday evening, waters had mostly receded and emergency crews were on the scene.
Meanwhile, employees cleared out soggy snacks from the Sunrise Grocery and Fuel Depot convenience store, which was flooded with about a foot of water. The same store was damaged by flooding last year.
Write to Dan Frosch at dan.frosch@wsj.com and Erin Ailworth at Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com