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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Death toll rises to 4 in Texas flooding

In some areas, more than 16 inches of rain fell in two days

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HOUSTON — The bodies of two missing motorists were found Saturday in Texas, raising the death toll in the state to four from flooding after torrential rain inundated rivers and waterways, authorities said.

The threat of severe weather has lessened in Texas for the Memorial Day weekend and the focus now is on homes that could be flooded by slowly rising waters. Evacuation orders were issued Saturday for parts of two Texas cities, Simonton and Rosenberg, along the Brazos River near Houston.

“The skies are clear and things look good. But we want to make sure people understand that we are not out of the woods yet. We have to keep an eye on water that’s coming through our bayou system,” said Francisco Sanchez, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management in Harris County, where Houston is located.

Other parts of the U.S. got drenched Friday, including Kansas. And on Saturday afternoon, Tropical Storm Bonnie formed in the Atlantic Ocean and brought rain and wind to the coast of South Carolina.

In Kansas, the Wichita Fire Department said Saturday that it is searching for an 11-year-old boy who went missing after he was swept away by a swollen creek Friday night. Wichita Fire Department battalion chief Scott Brown said his department has 12 divers, three search-and-rescue dogs and an airplane searching for any sign of the boy.

Near Austin, Texas — which saw up to 9 inches of rain this week — officials planned to resume aerial searches today for two missing people whose vehicle was swept off a flooded roadway, said emergency services spokeswoman Lisa Block.

In Washington County, Texas, located between Austin and Houston, County Judge John Brieden said the bodies of two missing motorists were found Saturday in separate parts of the rural county. The body of Pyarali Rajebhi Umatiya, 59, of College Station, was found in a submerged vehicle. The body of Darren Charles Mitchell, 21, a National Guardsman from Navasota, was found downstream from where his overturned truck had been found earlier.

More than 16.5 inches of rain fell in some areas Thursday and Friday. Authorities performed more than 50 water rescues.

The two other deaths in the county were Lela Holland, 64, of Washington, Texas, whose mobile home was swamped by floodwaters, and Jimmy Wayne Schaeffer, 49, of Brenham, who was swept away after driving his truck into high water.

The rising water in several Houston-area rivers and creeks prompted Harris County officials to ask about 750 families in the Northwood Pines subdivision to voluntarily evacuate their homes and apartments on Saturday. Officials also warned residents living near the west fork of the San Jacinto River, north of Houston, that rising waters were likely to flood homes, Sanchez said.

Tropical storm Bonnie

On the east coast, Tropical Storm Bonnie formed Saturday afternoon about 125 miles from Charleston, S.C., and was moving northwest at about 10 mph with top sustained winds of 40 mph, forecasters said.

Bonnie is the season’s second named tropical storm, emerging just four days before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. No evacuations have been ordered at this time.

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