Houston and other Texas cities are on alert for flooding as storms and heavy rain continue. Weather forecasters say storms will continue in North Texas and could bring gusty winds and heavy rain.
The National Weather Service in Houston said this morning that Flood Watch will be in effect today as rains could result in street flooding and rises along small streams and rivers. Other cities included in the Flood Watch are Waco, Lufkin, Huntsville and Wichita Falls.
According to a FOX Weather report, a FOX 26 Houston reporter said 8 people and 23 dogs had to be rescued from their homes in Harris County.
“That same area is getting pounded right now, so it’s a huge concern,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “That’s why the Flood Watches are up. It’s not only because of the flash flood concern – how much is falling out of the actual sky – but everything that’s filtering down the system: river flooding.”
The Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management also issued a message this morning warning residents living along the West Fork of the San Jacinto river to expect a significant rise in water levels and to take immediate precautions.
However, some people are refusing to evacuate.
“I think that’s one of the biggest problems we’re going to face is the fact that some of these people do not want to abide by that evacuation order,” Huffman Volunteer Fire Department Chief Tyler Shirley told FOX Weather. “The first rescue we had tonight was exactly that scenario. An individual that wanted to stay and realized that the water was going to rise a lot quicker than he thought. And we ended up having to go back out there after him.”
Schools along the Trinity and San Jacinto rivers have been closed due to flood warnings and thunderstorms.
According to NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center, tens of millions of people from Texas to Wisconsin are at a Level 2 out of 4 risk of excessive rainfall. Southeast Texas is at Level 3.
