Torrential rains inundate southeastern Texas, closing schools and roads

HOUSTON — Officials in Southeast Texas, including the Houston area, on Friday urged residents to prepare for worsening flooding after days of heavy rains that have led to high-water rescues and mandatory evacuation orders.

“This threat is ongoing and it’s going to get worse. It is not your typical river flood,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county, said Friday.

Officials said 26 people and 30 pets have been rescued from flood waters in the Houston area.

Hidalgo said a school bus carrying children northeast of Houston required a rescue after driving near high waters but that everyone on board was safe.

The Crosby school district said in a statement that the driver of a school bus carrying 27 students stopped his vehicle just before driving into high water. The students exited through a rear door and were taken to their campuses on another bus.

“I am proud of the quick action of our bus driver,” Crosby school district Superintendent Paula Patterson said in a statement.

More than 9 inches of rain fell during the past 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service, which has issued a flood warning until Tuesday for the region.

A flash flood warning was also in effect in the area Friday morning.

Of particular concern was an area along the San Jacinto River, on the eastern part of the county, which was expected to continue rising as more rain falls and officials release extra water from an already full reservoir.

Hidalgo on Thursday issued a mandatory evacuation order for those living along portions of the river and called the situation “life-threatening” and “catastrophic.”

“This threat is ongoing and it’s going to get worse. It is not your typical river flood,” Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo said several hundred structures were at risk of flooding.

The American Red Cross had nine shelters open in the Houston area and Southeast Texas due to the flooding.

Multiple roads north of the Houston remained closed on Friday due to flooding, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. A section of U.S. Highway 59 between Cleveland and Shepherd, about 50 miles northeast of Houston, was closed to due flooding.

The weather service reported the river was at 66.2 feet Friday morning and expected to crest at 76.6 feet on Saturday.

The flood stage for the river is 58 feet, according to the weather service.

Hidalgo warned others who live along the river in southern portions of the county that they could be stranded for days if they remain in their homes.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, but officials have reported several people being rescued from high waters.

In the city of Conroe, just north of Houston, rescuers drove boats into neighborhood subdivisions to rescue people and pets from their homes, then carrying them from the boats to higher ground.

Neighborhoods and businesses in Livingston — northeast of Conroe — were flooded, with water rising to the windshields of moving vans and above the bottom of windows of some buildings.

In Montgomery County, north of Houston, voluntary evacuation orders had been issued on Thursday for some southern areas of the county.

“We are still having to rescue motorists who ignore barricades or water over roadways and place themselves and first responders in harms way,” Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said Friday in a Facebook post.

In College Station, a driver was rescued Thursday from a light pole she had climbed when the car she drove into high water in a parking lot and was washed away in a creek.

Storms over the past month in southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana have dumped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.