A flooded out car is stranded in high water off US 59 as rain from Tropical Depression Imelda inundated the area on yesterday near Spendora, Texas. Photo / AP
A flooded out car is stranded in high water off US 59 as rain from Tropical Depression Imelda inundated the area on yesterday near Spendora, Texas. Photo / AP
The remnants of Tropical Depression Imelda unleashed torrential rain yesterday in parts of Texas, prompting hundreds of water rescues, a hospital evacuation and road closures as the powerful storm system drew comparisons to Hurricane Harvey two years ago.
Although the amount of predicted rainfall is massive — forecasters say some places could see 100cm or more this week — Imelda's deluge is largely targeting areas east of Houston, including the small town of Winnie and the city of Beaumont.
Still, the Houston area faced heavy rains Thursday, leading forecasters to issue a flash flood emergency through midday Thursday for Harris County. In that area, forecasters said 7.5cm to 12.5cm of rain is possible per hour.
Splendora Police Lt. Troy Teller, left, Cpl. Jacob Rutherford and Mike Jones pull a boat carrying Anita McFadden and Fred Stewart from their flooded neighborhood in Spendora, Texas. Photo / AP
Imelda is the first named storm to impact the Houston area since Hurricane Harvey dumped nearly 130cm of rain on parts of the flood-prone city in August 2017.
No reports of deaths or injuries related to the storm were immediately reported Thursday. East of Houston, some local officials said the rainfall was causing flooding worse than what happened during Hurricane Harvey. In Winnie, a town of about 3,200 people 95 km east of Houston, a hospital was evacuated and water was inundating several homes and businesses.
"What I'm sitting in right now makes Harvey look like a little thunderstorm," Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told Houston TV station KTRK.
Hawthorne told the Associated Press that emergency workers rescued about 200 people overnight, and that an additional 50 households were on a waiting list to be rescued Thursday morning. He said airboats from the sheriff's office and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department were helping with the rescues, along with high-water vehicles.
A man walks into high water into his neighbourhood as rain from Tropical Depression Imelda inundated the area yesterday near Patton Village, Texas. Photo / AP
"It's as bad as I've ever seen it. Right now I'm in an absolute deluge of rain," Hawthorne told the AP on Thursday morning as he took cover under a carport at an auto dealership in Winnie. The town "looks like a lake."
"Right now, as a Texas sheriff, the only thing that I really want is for people to pray that it will quit raining," he added.
In Beaumont, a city of just under 120,000 people about 50km from the Gulf of Mexico, authorities said all service roads were impassable and two hospitals were inaccessible, the Beaumont Enterprise reported. Beaumont police said on Twitter that 911 has received requests for more than 250 high water rescues and 270 evacuations.
"It's bad. Homes that did not flood in Harvey are flooding now," Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said. During Harvey, Beaumont's only pump station was swamped by floodwaters, leaving residents without water service for more than a week.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for several counties, saying "life-threatening amounts of rainfall" have fallen and more was expected Thursday.
Imelda's centre was about 180km north of Houston early Thursday and was moving north-northwest at 7kmh, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A man wades out through floodwaters caused by heavy rain spawned by Tropical Depression Imelda inundated the area yesterday in Patton Village, Texas. Photo / AP
Heavy rainfall occurred Wednesday in many areas. Thunderstorms spawned several weak tornadoes in the Baytown area, about 40km east of Houston, damaging trees, barns and sheds and causing minor damage to some homes and vehicles.
Coastal counties, including Brazoria, Matagorda and Galveston, were hit hard by rainfall through Wednesday. Sargent, a town of about 2700 residents in Matagorda County, had received nearly 50cm of rain since Tuesday.
Karen Romero, who lives with her husband in Sargent, said it was the most rain she had had in her neighborhood in her nine years living there.
"The rain (Tuesday) night was just massive sheets of rain and lightning storms," said Romero, 57.
She said her home, located along a creek, was not in danger of flooding as it sits on stilts, like many others nearby.
In the Houston area, the rainfall flooded some roadways on Wednesday, stranding drivers, and caused several creeks and bayous to rise.
The National Hurricane Center said Imelda weakened to a tropical depression after making landfall as a tropical storm Tuesday near Freeport, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 64kmh.
The flooding from Imelda came as Hurricane Humberto blew off rooftops and toppled trees in the British Atlantic island of Bermuda, and Hurricane Jerry was expected to move to the northern Leeward Islands on Friday and north of Puerto Rico on Saturday.
