Storms bring "life-threatening" flooding to Texas
HOUSTON- The rain came down in buckets in Texas Sunday night -- nearly 13 inches in only 6 hours -- torrential downpours flooding streets, trapping cars and threatening homes. On Monday morning, the city of Houston had largely shut down as rain flooded streets and homes andcaused the mayor to cancel a scheduled state of the city address.
CBS News' Manuel Bojorquez reports a huge spring storm is hammering large areas of the country's mid-section.
The storm system is bringing a mixture of rain and snow across the central and northern Rockies, as well as the central and northern high Plains. Heavy precipitation will bring threats of flash flooding to western Iowa, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota.
Strong to severe thunderstorms will develop along and near this frontal system across a large portion of the Plains and the Mississippi Valley.
Severe thunderstorms will be possible in south central Texas. These storms will be capable of producing large hail, dangerous straight line winds and isolated tornadoes. In addition, prolonged heavy rain could bring flash flooding to eastern Texas, southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas and western Louisiana.
The largest school district in Texas has canceled classes as heavy rain drenched parts of the state.
The Houston Independent School District called off classes Monday as a precaution due to severe weather. The district, with about 215,000 students, made the announcement as the Houston area was under a flash flood watch through Tuesday morning.
The wide-ranging flash flood watch area also included Austin, San Antonio, Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Fort Worth, the Tyler-Longview area and as far east as Texarkana.
Authorities had no immediate reports of anyone hurt.
According to CBS affiliate KHOU, parts of northwest Harris County and the nearby communities are seeing 2 to 4 inches of rain per hour.
Forecasters estimate some areas could get up to 8 inches of rain.
The Harris County Flood Control District is tracking the storm, calling the flooding "life-threatening."
Several high-water rescues were reported Monday in the Austin area, where rain flooded several roads.
The Austin American-Statesman reports local officials responded to multiple water-crossing rescues and other traffic incidents Sunday night.
EMS says it has carried out four water rescues since the storms started, CBS affiliate KEYE reports.
Some highways in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Houston were also closed due to flooding.
A wet weather pattern will continue across the central third of the country on Monday, while dry conditions persist over the West Coast.