HOUSTON, TEXAS, United States (Reuters) — At least eight people have died and some 1,150 homes have been damaged in flooding triggered by torrential downpours in the Houston area this week as more rain fell in the region on Wednesday (April 20) adding to vast pools of standing water.
All of those who died were found in or near vehicles that had been in flooded areas, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences and a local sheriff said.
The National Weather Service said about an inch or less had fallen in the area as of Wednesday afternoon, keeping water high in parts of the country’s fourth largest city where some roads have been turned into lakes. The Houston region had a record-setting drenching that dumped as much as 18 inches (45 cm) on some places on Monday.
“The rain today didn’t help. We are supposed to get more rain tomorrow,” Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s certainly not going to give anybody great comfort, but we probably are certainly past the, we’re certainly past the worst of this.”
The weather service issued a flood watch from central Texas through Houston and into large parts of Louisiana.
There have been more than 1,200 water rescues during the flooding, with emergency crews shuttling people by boat to dry ground and picking up hundreds of motorists whose cars were caught in rushing waters.
