Texas Flood Threat Rises; 26 Disaster Areas Declared

In just three hours of pounding rain, water flooded Becky Wilford’s house, leaving her groping at 2 a.m. for a way out.

Four feet of water had surrounded her home by the time a rescue boat appeared. “Tie the boat to the pier,” a voice called out. “That’s not a pier, that’s the deck to our house,” Wilford shouted as she clambered onto the boat with her husband and child.

More than 10,000 Houston-area residents have been forced from their homes by a stalled storm system that has dumped more than two feet of rain on southeast Texas since Sunday, killing at least eight people.

Gov. Ann Richards declared disaster areas in 26 counties, and late Tuesday President Clinton granted federal disaster relief for the counties. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena is scheduled to arrive Thursday to assess the damage.

Victims of the flooding included a 62-year-old man who died of a heart attack after he drove his van into high water in Montgomery County, and a couple in the same county who drowned after they attempted to leave their car.

In Baytown, a horrified 10-year-old girl watched as a 46-year-old man was swept into a rain-gorged gully. And three children drowned in Grimes County when rushing floodwaters washed the car they were riding in off the road.

The seventh victim, a 14-year-old boy, was swept into a storm drain in La Porte and is presumed dead.

While the worst flooding occurred in counties north of Houston, torrential rains rendered freeways and roads impassable across the city and brought many businesses to a halt. Downtown Houston was deserted Tuesday, with all entrances to downtown from Interstate 10 completely under water. And buses that normally are filled with commuters and shoppers ran empty, if at all.

Area supermarkets were the busiest spots, as residents stocked up on water and canned goods.

Many of the thousands who fled their homes headed to the 30 Red Cross shelters in the region. Some arrived, wet and tired, in grocery supply trucks and metro buses that had plucked them from the hoods of cars.

In Tomball, a dump truck owner plowed through high water to rescue residents in low-lying subdivisions. And in Liberty, mud-splattered Tony Dillard spent Tuesday rounding up the cattle that had fled to high ground. “This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” he said, surveying the flooded landscape.

Many residents, accustomed to Houston deluges, were caught short by the magnitude of the storm. Until Tuesday morning, James Buchanan thought that he was safe and sound at his house in Crosby, northeast of here. About 9:15, the water started inching into his living room. “I called the sheriff to come get me,” said Buchanan, who found haven at a Red Cross shelter.

Forecasters said the rains will continue today and warned that residents, particularly in Liberty County east of Houston, may yet feel the brunt of floodwaters rushing south on the Trinity River.

“It would be inappropriate to suggest the corner has been turned,” said John Jadrosich, spokesman for the Trinity River Authority. “Residents should prepare for a flow that they’ve never seen before.”