Thunderstorms bring flooding, water rescues and power outages to Houston area

Thunderstorms brought heavy rain that flooded sections of Kingwood Drive near Big Springs Drive, Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Kingwood. Thunderstorms brought heavy rain that flooded sections of Kingwood Drive near Big Springs Drive, Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Kingwood. Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 65 Caption Close Thunderstorms bring flooding, water rescues and power outages to Houston area 1 / 65 Back to Gallery

A stronger-than-predicted swath of storms stranded motorists and school children for hours Tuesday as floodwaters filled streets and homes in the Houston area from Sugar Land to Kingwood, according to officials.

Officials warned that another round storms with the potential for heavy rainfall this week could exacerbate already damp conditions.

"With the ground saturated, anytime between now and Saturday it's not going to take much to cause high water situations," said Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management. "This is just a preview of what we might see next weekend. The forecast was wrong and we hope we don't have a repeat of this."

Around 8 p.m., the Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management declared a level three alert.

"This is not in any way a Harvey-level event," Sanchez assured. "This was a storm system that came through that was under forecasted."

The storm dumped a whopping eight to 10 inches of rain in Kingwood, just days after deadly winds swept through the area.

During a patrol in the Houston suburb, police Chief Art Acevedo spotted dozens of stuck cars in waist-deep water and urged drivers to stay off the roads as high-water rescue crews were dispatched to the area. Residents were evacuated from flooding homes in the Elm Grove subdivision in the 5500 and 5600 blocks of Village Springs Drive, he said in a phone call, and young children were rescued from a preschool that began filling with water.

“That subdivision didn’t even flood during Harvey,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

The Houston Fire Department received about 240 high-water rescue calls in the Kingwood area and responded to about 40, a spokesperson said. A command center was set up along Kingwood Parkway to help a line of trapped motorists on the flooded roadways. There were no known reports of injuries.

Students at Kingwood High School were forced to shelter in place until around 9 p.m. because of the storm, police said.

Flood warnings were also issued for Fort Bend County, particularly in Sugar Land, where all major roadways were deemed "impassible" because of the rain. Since the worst of the storm began, city spokesman Doug Adolph said they had eight inches of precipitation and were expecting more.

"This is worse than what we experienced in Harvey," Sugar Land spokesman Doug Adolph said. "Our storm drains have been unable to handle the rain in the short amount of time."

Firefighters in Sugar Land were also dispatched to at least six structure fires caused by the storm's lightning, Adolph said.

A flood watch was also ordered for Missouri City, Rosenberg, Stafford and Richmond.

TRACK THE STORMS: See where the rain is falling

Fort Bend County Judge KP George waived tolls on the Fort Bend Parkway, Westpark Toll Road and Grand Parkway in an attempt to keep motorists away from flooded roads.

Residents in southwest Houston, from Meyerland to Westbury to NRG Park and areas around Brays Bayou, were urged to monitor flood conditions. As the storms tracked east, residents from Pearland to Baytown were placed under a flash flood warning.

Harris County was under a flash flood watch until 2 a.m. Wednesday.

In isolated areas of southwest Houston, as of press time, the Harris County Flood Control District had recorded more than four inches of precipitation. Nearby, there were reports of high-water rescues in Chinatown and Brays Oaks, and police were warning of rising water in the Meyerland area.

The brunt of the rain — along with its flurry of lightning — began around 3 p.m. and continued through much of the evening. In downtown Houston, a loud thunder clap interrupted Harris County Flood Control District meteorologist Jeff Lindner and brought a chuckle to a federal courtroom as he testified about extreme weather in a Harvey-related case.

Jay R. Jordan, Gabrielle Banks and J.R. Gonzales contributed to this report.

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