TOMBALL- Rain, rain, go away! Another day of pounding rain has folks evacuating in some of Houston’s outlying communities.
In Tomball, northwest of Houston, flood waters forced the closure of several roadways including Highway 249, just north of Zion Road. Several cars tried to drive through the high water but stalled out. The highway flooding is minor, compared to the high water in nearby neighborhoods. According to one Tomball police officer, houses on both sides of 249 have water up to their roof lines. Rescue teams from Magnolia, Tomball and Harris County were on the scene evacuating residents who wanted to leave their flooded homes.
Decker Prairie resident, Kip Coe was there too. He has been using his air boat to help his neighbors. “In the last 2 days with two air boats we pulled a couple hundred people out” explains the Good Samaritan.
In Simonton, west of Houston, the Brazos River is rising quickly. “We’re having mandatory evacuation because the Brazos River is breaching and we don’t know exactly when it will come and how fast it will come, but we wanted to get our residents out as quick as possible so they’ll be out of harms way” says Simonton Mayor Lewis Boudreaux. He adds, “This is the third flooding incident that we’ve had in the last 12 months and this is the worst of the three.”
In Houston, Harris County Emergency Management officials have called for a voluntary evacuation of the Northwood Pines subdivision. They’re concerned the rising waters could breech the levee. And in Kingwood, the Houston Fire Department deployed boats to rescue residents in the Belleau Wood subdivision.
So for many of our neighbors, things are going to get worse, before they get any better.
