ABC News(NEW YORK) — Dangerous flash flooding is wreaking havoc in Texas with the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda dumping massive amounts of rain overnight and into the morning.
The severe weather prompted a full ground stop at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Thursday morning.
In Beaumont — between Houston and Lake Charles, La. — over 250 high-water rescue requests were called into 911, the local police department said Thursday morning.
“Please shelter in place and seek high ground,” the Beaumont police tweeted. “DO NOT drive.”
Rainfall rates up to 5 inches per hour were reported overnight near Beaumont, Texas, dumping the worst flooding since Hurricane Harvey two years ago.
More than 33 inches of rain has fallen in the town of Hamshire, Texas, southwest of Beaumont, since Tuesday — and over 25 inches of that rainfall was overnight.
In the small town of Winnie, Texas, the conditions are “horrible,” with flooding making roads impassable, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told ABC News as the rain pounded down Thursday.
The water has “run out of places to go,” the sheriff said.
Some homes have four to five feet of water inside, Hawthorne said, and dump trucks and air boats were being used to get people to safety. The sheriff believed about 45 people still needed to be rescued as of Thursday morning.
The local hospital stayed open but about one dozen patients were evacuated, he added.
“Until it quits raining, it’s gonna be a nightmare,” the sheriff said.
The threat isn’t over. What’s left of Tropical Storm Imelda is still sitting over eastern Texas and western Louisiana, bringing more rain Thursday morning.
The remains of Imelda will then slowly track north on Thursday spreading rain into northeastern Texas, northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas and Oklahoma.
As much as 10 inches of additional rain is expected in eastern Texas and more flash flooding is expected in the next 24 hours.
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