After the devastating rains that swamped the region on Memorial Day, emergency officials started planning early as the remains of Hurricane Patricia headed toward Texas.
Francisco Sanchez with Harris County Emergency Management says despite warnings to stay home, there was a period of about a hour when the roads got dangerous after the rain falling Saturday evening.
“The toll road, for example, had 13 accidents reported with single vehicles involved, which means they were overcorrecting or driving through high water,” says Sanchez. “So that’s an example of why we ask people to take precautions when we get weather like this.”
But Sanchez says the amount of flooding didn’t even come close to the Memorial Day event. Instead of one huge downpour, the rain fell over a period of hours and that kept most of the bayous within their banks.
But there was some locally heavy rain not far from downtown. The gauge on Heights Boulevard at White Oak Bayou registered over 10 inches.
Michael Walter is with Houston’s Office of Emergency Management.
“Traditionally we’ve never seen a huge rainfall amount like that fall in that area,” says Walter. “The area that was really the most impacted was the area around Memorial Drive, Allen Parkway, that side of downtown.”
During the entire weekend, the Houston Fire Department says around 25 had to be pulled out of the water. That’s compared to 1,300 vehicles during the Memorial Day flood.
Officials also say there were no reports of water going into homes.
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