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Imelda Swamps Southeast Texas With Staggering Rainfall ‘I Can’t Do This’: Imelda Left Texas With at Least 3 Deaths and Historic Rainfall
(32 minutes later)
MONROE CITY, Tex. — As the remnants of the former Tropical Storm Imelda moved north on Friday, residents in southeast Texas awoke to shut down roads, scattered thunderstorms and the possibility of more flooding from a storm that became one the top 10 wettest in United States history. BEAUMONT, Tex. — The flooding rose as high as Archie Pugh’s wheelchair.
The storm that had barely earned a name — it briefly ranked as a tropical storm before being downgraded to a tropical depression — took many residents by surprise with its relentlessness, rekindling memories from when Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rainfall in some areas and caused dozens of deaths in 2017. After surging water from Tropical Depression Imelda rushed into his house and up against his wheels, Mr. Pugh, who has a partial leg amputation, could not wait for 911. He perched himself on the arm of a sofa, hoping for help.
As rain trickled down on and off on Friday, residents steeled themselves to assess the damage: At least two people had died, and the authorities were investigating a third death after a man last seen walking around during the storm was found dead in a ditch in Houston. Hundreds of homes had been flooded. And thousands were without power on Friday morning. Eventually hauled to safety in a rescue boat, Mr. Pugh and his wife, Elizabeth, left an evacuation shelter near their home in Beaumont, Tex., on Friday, armed with a sleeping cot and a garbage bag full of pillows and blankets. Only two years after Hurricane Harvey, their house was again awash with water — and they were again in need of a place to stay.
“It’s emotionally draining,” said Rebecca Gay, 41, who had been caring for a friend who was displaced for more than a year after Harvey, before getting stranded again this week. Her friend had not been able to return home to see whether her rebuilt house had survived. “It’s an experience I never want to go through again,” said Elizabeth Pugh, 49.
“I don’t want her to see me crying,” Ms. Gay said, tearing up. “She’s still got some trauma from Harvey. She’s very fragile. We’re just trying to take it easy and keep it light.” As the remnants of Imelda moved north on Friday, residents in southeast Texas were left to deal with waterlogged homes, blocked roads and flash flooding conditions from a storm that dumped as much as 43 inches of water in some areas to become one of the wettest tropical cyclones in United States history.
On Friday morning, officials in the Houston area were scrambling to control barges that broke loose and struck a bridge that carries traffic across the San Jacinto River. Concerned about possible structural damage to the bridge, officials shut down Interstate 10 in both directions. The storm that had barely earned a name — it was briefly considered a tropical storm before being downgraded to a tropical depression — took many residents by surprise with its relentless rain, rekindling memories from when Hurricane Harvey dropped more than 50 inches of precipitation in some areas and caused dozens of deaths in 2017.
Houston public schools were closed on Friday, but the district was facing a blowback for not canceling classes a day earlier. As the floodwaters rose and receded on Friday, a fuller picture of the devastation began to emerge. At least three people had died, including a man who drowned while trying to move his horse. The two others had been driving when their cars got caught in flooding. The authorities were also investigating after a man last seen walking around during the storm was found dead in a ditch in Houston.
As the worst from Imelda blew through on Thursday, parents complained that they were forced to commute in dangerous flooding conditions, even as the mayor was urging people to stay off the roads. They took to the district’s Facebook page to describe chaotic after-school conditions: children wandering the flooded streets, parents wading through thigh-high water with pre-schoolers on their backs, students and administrators sleeping overnight at school. “Total disaster,” one person wrote. Across southeastern Texas, highways were shut down, routines were disrupted and people were struggling to get to work. Some, like Charlotte Kinsey, were sick with worry over missing family members.
By Friday, roads were still closed, routines were disrupted and people were struggling to get to work across southeast Texas. Some, like Charlotte Kinsey, were sick with worry over missing family members. Ms. Kinsey fled her three-bedroom trailer home in Winnie, Tex., on Thursday afternoon as the floodwaters rose around her and her 3-week-old daughter, Niomi Grace Galley. But she had not heard from her 17-year-old son, Trevor Coffey, who had not been seen since he returned from a job interview late Wednesday. Adding to her concerns, Trevor has a mental health diagnosis that requires medication, she said.
Ms. Kinsey fled her three-bedroom trailer home in Winnie, Tex., on Thursday afternoon as the floodwaters rose around her and her three-week-old daughter, Niomi Grace Galley. But she had not heard from her 17-year-old son, Trevor Coffey, who had not been seen since he returned from a job interview late Wednesday. Adding to her concerns, Trevor has a mental health diagnosis that requires medication, she said.
“I don’t know if he’s O.K.,” she said. “And he can’t swim.”“I don’t know if he’s O.K.,” she said. “And he can’t swim.”
Even being at the shelter reminded her of Trevor: They had evacuated together to the same shelter in the same event center in Anahuac, Tex., two years ago. Even being at the shelter reminded her of Trevor: Together they had evacuated to the same shelter in Anahuac, Tex., two years ago.
“This is Harvey all over again and we barely made it out the last time,” Ms. Kinsey said. “We’re talking about going to my mother’s in Colorado. I can’t do this. I’m not putting my kids through this anymore.”“This is Harvey all over again and we barely made it out the last time,” Ms. Kinsey said. “We’re talking about going to my mother’s in Colorado. I can’t do this. I’m not putting my kids through this anymore.”
One possibility emerged late Thursday: A Greyhound bus had been stranded for hours on flooded Interstate 10, and those inside were on the way to the shelter. But it turned out to be a false lead. Trevor was not on the bus. One possibility for Trevor’s whereabouts had emerged late Thursday: A Greyhound bus had been stranded for hours on flooded Interstate 10, and those inside were on the way to the shelter. But it turned out to be a false lead. Trevor was not on the bus.
By Friday morning, still at the shelter, Ms. Kinsey said in a text message that her son was still missing. Still at the shelter, Ms. Kinsey said in a text message on Friday that her son remained missing.
Much of southeast Texas absorbed more than 10 inches of rain from Tuesday morning to Thursday night. Areas southwest of Beaumont were hit hardest, with an extraordinary 43 inches near Fannett, Tex., enough to make Imelda the seventh wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. Rod Carroll, the chief of police in Vidor, Tex., outside Beaumont, was still orchestrating water rescues on Friday from the police station where he had been posted for nearly 36 hours.
Forecasters predicted scattered and diminished rain on Friday, but warned that any additional rainfall could cause flash flooding in an area already saturated to the extreme. Since early Thursday morning, his employees had helped rescue dozens of people in the city of 10,000, and he estimated that a few hundred homes in the area had flooded. His was one of them.
In a given year, southeast Texas typically sees about 63 inches of rainfall total. Chief Carroll had been monitoring the radio from bed overnight on Thursday when he heard reports of severe flooding and people trapped in cars. When he got up to report for duty at about 1:30 a.m., he saw that water had started trickling in downstairs. He and his wife hustled to grab photos of their children and knickknacks from his wife’s parents, but soon the first floor was covered in a foot and a half of water.
While climate change tends to increase the amount of rainfall during storms, since a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, scientists must evaluate individual storms after the fact to determine how climate change contributed. (Researchers found that the record rainfall during Harvey was as much as 38 percent higher than would be expected in a world that was not warming.) “It came in like a wall,” he said.
In Chambers County on Friday, entire farms were submerged. Fences poked out of the water. Pump jacks and other equipment idled and floated in fields. They had been through this before, during Harvey, and Chief Carroll estimated it would again take them about 14 months to rebuild.
“This is brutal,” said Brian Edmonds, who was among three employees of a local landfill standing outside, waiting to see whether they would be called to work. He has been sleeping on the floor in his office since the storm began, but he briefly stopped home on Friday afternoon to kiss his wife goodbye before she went to stay with their adult children in Beaumont, which also saw heavy flooding.
Nearby, a man driving a sedan stopped before a large pool of water blocking the road. Some cars stopped and turned around, while others drove ahead. “I picked out some clean clothes and took a shower, and came back to work,” he said.
“Trying to get to work,” the man said. “I guess I’ll take a snow day.” Much of southeast Texas — from Houston to Beaumont to rural areas further south — absorbed nine or more inches of rain from Tuesday morning to Thursday night. Areas southwest of Beaumont were hit hardest, with an extraordinary 43 inches near Fannett, Tex. That tally made Imelda the seventh-wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States, according to the National Weather Service.
Mitchell Ferman reported from Monroe City, Tex., Manny Fernandez from Anahuac, Tex.; and Sarah Mervosh from New York. Margaret Toal contributed reporting from Orange, Tex. In a given year, southeast Texas typically sees about 63 inches of rainfall.
Climate change tends to increase the amount of rainfall during storms because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, but scientists must evaluate individual storms after the fact to determine how climate change contributed. (Researchers found that the record rainfall during Harvey was as much as 38 percent higher than would be expected in a world that was not warming.)
Though the rain largely trickled off on Friday, forecasters warned that any amount of additional rainfall could cause flash flooding in an area already saturated.
In Chambers County, a rural area south of Beaumont that was among the hardest hit, a sheriff’s deputy made the rounds in an aging military truck that rumbled through water that was several feet deep. The conditions left other people to walk their bicycles in knee-deep water, or to travel by four-wheeler. Many drove tractors that could get through the muck with their large, durable tires.
Shannon Dye, a longtime resident of Hankamer, Tex., splashed through town on her John Deere tractor. She had to make a delivery.
“Potato soup,” Ms. Dye said, managing a smile. “For my sister.”
Margaret Toal reported from Beaumont, Sarah Mervosh from New York and Mitchell Ferman from Hankamer, Tex. Manny Fernandez contributed reporting from Anahuac, Tex.