BEAUMONT, Texas — Residents of Southeast Texas are evacuating their homes as rivers reach record levels and bayous swell to overwhelm small towns along the Louisiana border.
People rushed to fill sand bags to place around their homes Tuesday as authorities warned the Sabine (suh-BEEN) River and other waterways some 100 miles east of Houston will continue to rise.
The Texas Department of Transportation announced the closure of Interstate 10, one of the country’s major transportation arteries, and motorists as far away as El Paso, in another time zone, were warned to find alternative routes.
National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Humphrey says part of the Sabine will crest to more than 33 feet, breaking the previous record set in 1884. The river in that area begins to flood at 24 feet.
