Weather in San Antonio was not the only Texas weather story on Wednesday: flooding risks in the Houston area eased after three days of rain and the dissipation of Tropical Storm Arthur. Jessica Chace of the National Weather Service’s Houston/Galveston Office said the region had already been saturated early Wednesday morning.
“We’ve already had quite a bit of rain over the last couple of days,” Chace said. “With very little time for things to drain or dry out, any continued rain is going to just further moisten the soils and make things harder to drain.”
Houston area warnings Tuesday and Wednesday
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for parts of the region on Monday afternoon and again on Tuesday and Wednesday. It also issued flash flood warnings on Wednesday morning for Atascocita, Baytown and Pasadena, after a series of flash flood warnings on Tuesday in suburban areas north of Houston, including Cleveland, Conroe, Hockley, Spring, Tomball, Waller and The Woodlands.
Mark Keough, the Montgomery County Judge, said some streets were already underwater early Tuesday afternoon. “Multiple roads are impassible right now with flash flooding occuring,” he wrote in a social media post. “Please stay at home or the office and off the roads until the rain stops.”
Tropical Storm Arthur and Galveston
Tropical Storm Arthur formed southwest of Houston on Wednesday morning, bringing coastal flooding and gusty winds to the Galveston area before dissipating several hours later after landfall. The National Hurricane Center said the system was expected to lead to heavy rainfall in the southeastern U.S. during the following days, while the National Weather Service projected 4-7 inches of total rainfall through early Thursday and said isolated areas could receive more than 7 inches.
Houston still hosted its second FIFA World Cup match on Wednesday morning while rainy weather continued, and Cody Lindsey warned a day earlier that very heavy rainfall rates with tropical moisture in place could quickly lead to flash flooding concerns. Chace said Houston, especially the Houston metro, would continue to see light to moderate rain through the morning before conditions improved later in the day.
Magnolia drowning and rainfall
The wet stretch had already turned deadly when a 15-year-old boy drowned in a flooded retention pond in Magnolia, north of Houston, on Tuesday night. The weather service had also said Monday there was a chance of life-threatening flooding throughout the region, which left the focus on whether rain would ease fast enough to slow drainage problems across the Houston area.
Chace said rain should diminish later Wednesday, and the weather service had already called off a flood watch that had been set to expire Wednesday night. For residents in the Houston area, the practical change was simple: the worst of the flooding threat was easing, but roads and low-lying spots could still flood quickly while the last bands of rain moved through.
