So the Houston metroplex had a thunderstorm stall right over us last night/early morning that dumped a lot of rain in a short amount of time. We here in Katy (West Houston) got as much as 10.22” of rain. That is almost a foot of rain, people.
My mother-in-law drove to one of the airports here and as she was going down into the tunnel connecting one tollway to another, her car went right into flooded water. 3/4 of her minivan were submerged instantly. after calling 911, she was rescued by firefighters who had to pry open a door and lift her out of the chest-high water. She is not the kind of person to take risks and drive foolishly into a situation like that. It was early, dark, pouring down and that section of the tunnel curves. No way she could have seen that coming.
It took me 3 hours to get to her after navigating stalled traffic, flooded streets, frontage roads and people who were out joyriding in big ass trucks. At one point, I was in danger of having my car engine flooding when a rush of water came out of drainage ditch and caught me in the middle of it. I was able to finally drive up unto a raised median and waiting for it to recede enough to drive on. After getting her home, my father-in-law and I went to the scene where her vehicle was towed out of the water. I managed to retrieve her luggage, laptop, purse and even the shoes she was wearing.
We’re safe, she’s dry and Houston is slowly drying out but her van is a total loss. Her husband ended up giving the vehicle to a guy with a tow truck after AAA was unable to send busy towers and scrap yards refused to buy it.
Today’s theme song brought to you by Stevie Ray Vaughn: Texas Flood
Also, here is some dramatic footage from Flickr user Finna Dat
Scroll through to the sections of I-10 and the West Sam Houston Tollway merge. It is now a lake.
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