Texas Swamped by Floods After Week of Storms

Parts of Houston were swamped by floodwaters up to 10 feet deep Friday after nearly a week of thunderstorms and tornadoes that left at least nine dead in Texas and Oklahoma.

Hundreds of southeast Texas residents remained out of their homes, cut off by floodwaters. The rains had stopped, but a flood warning remained in effect for the San Jacinto River around Houston, the Trinity River and area creeks.

“It has continued flooding overnight because of runoff. Several areas in and around Houston already have nine to 10 feet of water but most of the floodwaters are receding, except for the San Jacinto and Greens Bayou,” said Sgt. John Emerson of the Harris County sheriff’s office.

Severe thunderstorms caused tornadoes and heavy rains in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana this week, flooding roads and homes, forcing evacuations of people by boat and closing schools.

Record flooding forced the Sabine River Authority to open floodgates at the Toledo Bend Reservoir, which was expected to cause further flooding downstream, said Donnie Henson, the river authority’s regional manager.

Fifty homes below the dam were evacuated Thursday night in preparation for the release, he said. Most of them were flooded, some with water four feet deep, by Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, President Bush on Friday declared four counties in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region a major weather disaster area in the wake of storms earlier this month, providing for federal aid.

Damage surveys are continuing in other areas and other counties may be added, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported.

Elsewhere Friday, temperatures fell into the 20s in the northern Rockies and parts of the northern plateau. Boise, Ida., tied a daily record low of 28 degrees.

Afternoon temperatures ranged from 33 degrees at Yellowstone, Wyo., to 100 at Laredo, Tex. San Antonio set a record with 97.

Summer struck abruptly in portions of New York state and interior New England as temperatures soared to near 90. It was 91 at Burlington, Vt., a record for the date.