Texas Coast Begins Cleanup From Flooding

Coastal communities crawled back to life Saturday as flood waters from Tropical Storm Frances receded and the cleanup began.

From house to house in a neighborhood in northwest Houston, furniture, clothing and toys were stacked outside in a scene reminiscent of a weekend yard sale.

“It’s not that bad, but it’s bad enough,” said Steve Siarski as he draped drenched T-shirts and sweaters over the back of his pickup truck. “I don’t have any insurance; they told me I didn’t need it when I bought this house. . . . They lied.”

Siarski’s home was one of at least 1,000 damaged in flooding caused by Frances, which belted the region with up to a foot of rain after making landfall Friday.

The storm weakened to a tropical depression as it moved inland, although its remnants caused scattered thunderstorms Saturday in Texas and Louisiana. Three tornadoes also touched down in parts of Louisiana, but little damage and no injuries were reported.

On Thursday, one man died and six people were injured in a Louisiana tornado and five people suffered minor injuries in a Texas tornado. On Friday, a woman died in a car accident in heavy rain in the New Orleans area.

Houston officials estimated residential losses of up to $95 million in that city.

Just northeast of Galveston, several homes crumbled into the Gulf of Mexico.

At least 10 businesses and 60 homes suffered major damage, said Tom Lavagnino, spokesman for the Texas Department of Emergency Management.

Farther south, the town of Sargent remained under up to 5 feet of water, said sheriff’s Deputy Wayne Frieda.

In New Orleans’ French Quarter, tourists who had been hiding in their hotel rooms came out in droves to shop, stroll and drink.

“The streets here yesterday were rivers,” said Jennifer Spinney, a clerk at a souvenir shop. “Today they’re bone dry.”