On Monday morning, Greg Abott, the governor of Texas, announced Houston at a state of emergency as rain poured down at rates as great as four inches an hour, inundating nine counties at an accelerated rates—killing five people and trapping residents in their own homes and automobiles.
According to Judge Ed Emmet, Harris County's chief administrator, more than 1,000 homes were flooded in Harris County alone.
More than 70 subdivisions flooded in the metro area. Emergency officials said as many as 60 water rescues were used by rescue workers to save people from their homes.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner claimed that eight buildings were destroyed by the downpour and left 43,000 civilians residing in the area deprived from electricity, according to CenterPoint Energy.
The people living in Greenspoint were immediately evacuated and transported to a mall. The city’s emergency operation revealed in a statement that it was still escalated “a large-scale effort” to help people who resided there.
In Magnolia County, just north of Houston, 50 high-water rescues had been operated since Sunday night at 10 p.m. Furthermore, dozens of horses were trapped in the flood and are being rescued.
“When you get off the freeways and off the main thoroughfares, you could be in water 10 to 15 feet deep," Fire Department spokesman Jay Evans told the Associated Press on Monday.
As reported by the National Weather Service, all rail and bus services at Metro Houston were shut down as the flood rose up to 16.5 inches off the ground before noon that day.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport had recorded 8.85 inches of rain since midnight to 5:30 a.m. CDT. By 10:30 a.m. CDT on Monday, more than 400 flights were cancelled as stated in the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The spreading flood in northwest Harris County resulted in a warning from Jeff Lidner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District, of a “life-threatening situation [and to] stay where you are,” until further notice.
