Heavy rains, flooding, inundate Houston area

Residents are evacuated from their apartment complex surrounded by floodwaters in Houston. Storms have dumped more than a foot of rain in the Houston area, flooding dozens of neighborhoods and forcing the closure of city offices and the suspension of public transit.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

April 19, 2016 7:52 AM PT

More than a foot of rain has deluged the Houston area, inundating homes, shutting down major highways and leaving at least five people dead. The National Weather Service had the area under a flash flood watch through Wednesday morning.

Heavy rains, flooding, inundate Houston area

Residents of the Arbor Court apartments evacuate their flooded apartment complex in The Woodlands, Texas.

(Brett Coomer / Associated Press)

Meital Harari cleans water out of her Meyerland home in Houston. Her family rode out the storm at a nearby house because her daughter has nightmares from the Memorial Day floods.

(Jon Shapley / Associated Press)

Emergency personnel carry a woman from a rescue boat as people are evacuated from Arbor Court Apartments in Houston.

(Melissa Phillip / Associated Press)

Edgar Peneda, of Roadway Construction, inspects a collapsed retention wall along eastbound U.S. Highway 290 at Huffmeister after heavy rain in Houston.

(Gary Coronado / Associated Press)

A man paddles a kayak out of high water in the Timber Lakes Timber Ridge subdivision in The Woodlands, Texas.

(Brett Coomer / Associated Press)

Richard Lopez and Allie Hairford-Siemens hold the reins of three horses as they lead them from the back of truck through flood water along Cypress Rosehill Rd. in Cypress, Texas.

(Melissa Phillip / Associated Press)

Residents are helped into the back of a truck as they leave their apartment complex surrounded by floodwaters in Houston. Storms have dumped more than a foot of rain in the Houston area.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)