High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property.
Floodwaters inundated a wide region Saturday, from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waist-high waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home. A flood watch remained in effect through Sunday afternoon as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night to the soaked region and the likelihood of major flooding.
Aron Brown, 45, and his wife Jamie Brown, 41, were two of the many residents who drove or walked to watch the rising waters near a flooded intersection close to the San Jacinto River in the northeast Houston neighborhood of Kingswood.
The floodwaters had risen several feet and had begun to flood nearby restaurants and a gas station.
The water could be seen flowing into parts of the couple’s subdivision. But Aron Brown said he wasn’t worried as his home was at a higher elevation than other ones in their subdivision.
Brown, who had driven from his home in a golf cart, said the flooding wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He pointed to nearby power lines and said that flooding during Harvey had reached the top of the lines.