Photo: Click2Houston
Flooding continues to be an issue north of Houston, impacting several counties.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo reiterated her calls for residents living on the east side of the East Fork San Jacinto River to evacuate if they already haven’t. She added how the emergency Management alert remains activated at level 1 (maximum readiness).
“It means there’s an imminent threat,” Judge Hidalgo said.
And in a post to X after that news conference, Hidalgo said, “It’s too late to evacuate preemptively & folks are being assisted off their rooftops. If you are on the West Fork or south of Lake Houston you still have an opportunity to leave. Otherwise, prepare to stay in place for 2-3 days.”
Initially, there was a voluntary evacuation but because the severe weather threat has worsened, Judge Hidalgo says it has turned into a mandatory evacuation. She added that rescue efforts would be challenging for first responders if they were to conduct rescue missions.
“Whatever actions you still haven’t taken that we’ve requested, please take them now,” she said. “If you’re home right now where we’ve asked for a mandatory evacuation, you’re extremely vulnerable.”
Earlier today, Montgomery County, are seeing flooding, and Judge Mark Keough tells KTRH that there have been multiple water rescues.
"I can't even give you a number on them, there have been so many," Keough told Houston's Morning News. "We're pulling people out."
Harris County meteorologist Jeff Lindner says this is not a good scenario.
"Unfortunately we've had additional heavy rainfall develop right over the same areas that were impacted yesterday," Lindner told KTRH's Jimmy Barrett and Shara Fryer.
The National Weather Service has issued severe thunderstorm warnings for Montgomery, San Jacinto, and Liberty Counties, and much of the Greater Houston Area is under either a flood warning or flood watch.
Janice Maldonado with the National Weather Service told KTRH that most of the storms today will be north of I-10, which could lead to areas that have already experienced flooding getting worse. Maldonado also said there is an increased risk for the Galveston area.