Texas and Louisiana threatened by chance of flash flooding
The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches for southeastern Texas near Houston and southern Louisiana. It also warned of the possibility of tornadoes and severe storms in parts of Mississippi.
The weather threats come after Houston was hit this week by a bout of flooding set off by a strong storm, and as other parts of the Gulf Coast region are dealing with the effects of heavy rainfall.
CBS affiliate KHOU reported earlier this week that nearly 400 homes took on water in Kingwood, Texas, a Houston suburb, and that emergency responders received more than 250 calls for high-water rescues during Tuesday's severe weather. Rescues continued on Wednesday, as the nation's fourth largest city took on as much as 10 inches of rain, with water swallowing vehicles and making some roads impassable.
Multiple Houston-area students spent the night at school on Wednesday, after buses used to take them home were unable to drive on flooded roads. The Houston school district said about 60 students needed to stay overnight.
Heavy rain will continue across southeast Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley for the next three days. Numerous flash floods likely. pic.twitter.com/zloFvU6A1k
— NWS WPC (@NWSWPC) May 9, 2019
The flooding came as Houston residents continued to recover from Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall on August 25, 2017, killed 68 people and caused $125 billion worth of damage in Texas. Houston took the brunt of Harvey's destruction with 36 deaths and over 150,000 homes flooded.
Other parts of the Gulf region are facing severe weather. On Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a multi-day heavy rainfall and flooding threat across parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches are expected to increase the threat of flooding through the weekend.