So far about five people have died in one of the biggest and historic floods in Houston. Yesterday after a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour, a heavier rain than it was predicted for today.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated from their homes all across the Harris County this morning since floodwaters have continued to rise after the flash floods that caused chaos in Texas on Monday when a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett stated that two people died in a vehicle that ignored barricades at a freeway underpass. Traffic cameras recorded the vehicle going around the blockade and head into the water. The vehicle didn’t make it through, unfortunately. Also, two more deaths were reported earlier this Monday, including one man that was found inside a truck, which drove into the high water on a freeway service road.
Sgt. Herbert Martinez, from the Harris County Precinct, said that crews were monitoring the high water on the road, where they saw the man in the 18-wheeler truck drive directly into the water. He says that it’s possible that the driver may have suffered some kind of medical emergency. Is it worth noticing that another man, identified only as a contractor working for the city’s airport system, also was found dead in a submerged vehicle not too far away from the Houston Intercontinental Airport.
What does the Texas Government has done?
At 5 p.m. the Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that some taxpayers affected by severe rain and flooding will qualify for an extension to file their federal tax returns that were due at midnight.
Also, Abbot has been in contact with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to push the tax filing deadline for those who lives in areas inundated by the heavy downpours, where more than a foot of rain dumped on parts of Houston and knocked out power to thousands of residents, so they will have some extra time to declare their taxes without worrying about the deadline.
What will happen to the schools?
Over 1 million students in the Houston area had a weather-related day off Monday because of storms that dumped as much as 16 inches of rain. More than 40 districts and universities in Texas were canceling scholar activities as heavy rains and flooding inundated parts of Harris County and threatened nearby areas.
The closures also included the Houston Independent School District, which is the largest in Texas with about 215,000 students and also the Texas Southern University and the Houston Community College System were included on this closures. The University of Houston cited street flooding in calling off classes to their over 40,000 students and the Rice University also canceled school Monday.
Source: Mashable