Houston: "The rain just kept coming, and coming, and coming"

Houston, Texas, Hit by Unprecedented Flooding; Seven States At Risk

NBC news - 5 hours ago

houston mayor: Floodwaters StILL RISING

houston rivers topping their banks

Flash-flood watches and warnings were issued across seven states early Tuesday as an unprecedented downpour of torrential rain triggered "extremely dangerous and potentially life-threatening" conditions in Houston.

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The mayor of Houston confirmed two deaths Tuesday morning, raising the death toll to 10. At least 12 people were still missing, and countless more were evacuated amid the deluge that has inundated Texas and Oklahoma with record-breaking floods since Saturday.

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Houston Intercontinental Airport smashed its all-time record for most rainfall in one day on Monday — its 4.34 inches almost doubling the previous milestone set in 1946.

"The rain just kept coming, and coming, and coming," said Ashley Aivles, a 25-year-old call center worker who struggled to make it back to her home in a Houston suburb early Tuesday.

"I lived here during Hurricane Ike [in 2008] and this was a close second. We've had really bad rain in the past but this was something else," said Aivles, who said many of her co-workers were still trapped in the office.

Around 32 million Americans in the Plains and South were at risk from dangerous thunderstorms Tuesday, meteorologists said.

Flood watches and warnings were in effect at 6:30 a.m. ET in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

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There were also 19 reported tornadoes in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi on Monday — and another twister over the Mexico border that killed 13 people.

And there appeared to be no let up in sight, with Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth predicting the storm would likely refocus on central Texas, as well as branching out to the Ohio Valley and further north later on Tuesday.

"There will be another round of thunderstorms developing in central Texas in the mid-afternoon today, which could then clip Houston and Dallas by the evening," he said.

However, whereas a storm lingered over Houston on Monday night, Roth said Tuesday's round could pass over the city quicker and therefore not dump as much rain on the city.

Severe thunderstorms were also possible throughout the day in the Ohio Valley and as far north as Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay, Roth said.

"This is likely to mean wind, hail, and isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out," he said.

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