Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Flooding rains hit Houston streets
By Erin Smith
The Battalion (Texas A&M)
06/20/2006

(U-WIRE) COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M student Amy Arroyo, who is working in Houston for the summer, said the city was like a ghost town Monday.

"I was the only person who showed up for work this morning," said Arroyo, a senior political science major.

Storms pounded the Houston area Monday morning, causing widespread flooding and shutting down major roadways.

The torrential rainfall put as much as 10.5 inches in the Houston area by the height of morning rush hour, according to the National Weather Service.

Hobby Airport in southeast Houston was closed for about 2 1/2 hours because surrounding streets were under water and airport employees could not get to work. The airport reopened by 8:45 a.m., said Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston airport system.

If the storm continues like expected, more delays and cancellations are possible, McClinton said.

Interstate 10 and the I-45 corridor southeast of downtown Houston was one of the hardest hit areas in the city. Vehicles stalled out in low areas, where the National Weather Service reported 12 inches of rain fell in a three-hour period.

Some roads along I-10, I-45 and 610 South were blocked off and many Houston area schools and businesses were closed Monday due to impassable roadways.

Several residential areas along the city's bayous are now under water. Because the city sits only 45 feet above sea level, the bayous cannot drain fast enough with such large amounts of rain, said Wes Johnson, spokesman of the City of Houston Public Works Department.

Gov. Rick Perry brought in outside help Monday morning, including 25 National Guard trucks with crews, three HH-60 helicopters with flight crews, swift water rescue teams from Texas Task Force One and an incident management team from the Texas Forest Service.

The National Guard troops were on standby as of 5 p.m. Monday, said Rusty Cornelius, administrative coordinator from the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Cornelius said he worries that, if the storm continues, there will not be enough National Guard troops to assist them.

"It is an open secret that most of the National Guard troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan," Cornelius said. "They may not be available for us at this time."

No evacuations have been issued at this time, but four area shelters have opened, Cornelius said. The shelters are currently housing only three residents because most displaced families are staying with friends and family, he said.

If necessary, the Emergency Management Office can open up to 200 shelters across the city of Houston, Cornelius said.

Because flooding is expected to worsen, Cornelius said any A&M students from the Houston area should remain in College Station until the storm passes.

When that might be, no one knows for sure.

"This is a wait and see situation," said Frank Billingsly, chief meteorologist at KPRC Channel 2 in Houston.

"We are expecting another heavy rain event, but it is impossible to say how much rain it will bring and how long it will last," Billingsly said. "This is a very slow moving storm with no steering wind to give it direction."

Billingsly said this storm could end up affecting the Houston area the way Tropical Storm Allison did in June of 2001.

"We are expecting two to three more inches of rain, but could see as much as five to 10 inches of rain even up into the Bryan-College Station area," Billingsly said.

The storm is moving slowly to the west and pulling moisture out of the gulf, he said.

Although much more rain is expected to hit the area over the next 48 hours, Billingsly said he does not expect the storm to gain strength as it pulls tropical moisture out of the Gulf.

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