The Houston, Texas area was slammed with heavy rain over the weekend leading to hundreds of rescues on Saturday.
According to the National Weather Service, rainfall totals from flooding in Texas and Louisiana this week rose to almost two feet in five days. The area also remains under the threat of worsening flood conditions that are so disastrous, they have been compared to Hurricane Harvey in reports.
A flood watch for the area is now in effect through Sunday afternoon with forecasters predicting more rain on Saturday night that will bring another 1-3 inches (2.5-7.6cm) and trigger major flooding.
While these storms are the latest to prompt evacuations and rescues, Texas and some parts of Louisiana have been experiencing a series of intense weather events since early April, including tornadoes and softball-sized hail as well as months of rain that has triggered flooding comparable to the Category 4 Hurricane Harvey of 2017. Which dropped 30 to 40 inches of rain across the Houston area in just 48 hours.
That strange weather is predicted to continue, according to the Storm Prediction Center which issued a tornado watch for southwestern Texas. The center also predicted hail as large as grapefruit and damaging winds up to 70 miles per hour on Saturday afternoon and evening.
Friday's storms led to at least 400 people having to be rescued from rooftops, roads, and homes.
But despite the downpour damaging homes and triggering evacuations, no deaths nor serious injuries have been reported, according to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. The judge added that the predicted surge of water would be “catastrophic” and said several hundred buildings were at risk of flooding.
“It’s been really sad to see the impact of people’s livelihoods, homes, infrastructure as well as just the public infrastructure,” Hidalgo said Saturday. “We’re really asking folks to give it a minute before they go back home.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott expanded disaster declarations in response to the flooding, which has made declarations active for over a third of Texas counties.