Up to a foot-and-a-half of rain pounded Texas on Saturday, raising fears of widespread flooding in the rain-soaked state even as the remnants of record-setting Hurricane Patricia bore down from Mexico.
While the current band of storms created by a stalled cold front in north and central Texas were expected to ease late Saturday, a new storm generated by what's left of Patricia in the Gulf of Mexico will begin dumping up to six inches of rain in eastern Texas.
Still, rains that have hammered north and central Texas wreaked havoc Friday and Saturday. A homeless man was reported swept into a drainage ditch by flood waters in San Antonio sometime early Saturday morning while trying to rescue a dog, according to KENS-TV.
Elsewhere, a Union Pacific freight train was partially submerged north of Corsicana on Saturday morning after apparently being swept off the rails by floodwaters, WFAA-TV reported. The incident happened on a trestle near Interstate 45 and Highway 287, about 60 miles south of Dallas. Two crew members aboard the train were brought to safety by a Navarro County swift water rescue team.
More than 18 inches of rain closed Interstate 45 near Corsicana, leaving a 12-mile traffic jam. Officials had been urging residents to simply pull off the highway, find a parking lot and spend the night in their vehicles.
Accuweather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said the rains in the Dallas-San Antonio corridor should begin dissipating Saturday. "There could be some rain around (Sunday) morning. But I think as the day goes on, they'll either totally dry out or there'll be lingering showers as the focus shifts into southeast Texas," he said.
Pydynowski said an area of low pressure developing over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from the remnants of Patricia will produce heavy rains along a line from College Station south to Houston and Galveston on Saturday night that might result in flooding before moving east into Louisiana on Sunday.
Much of the Texas heartland was under a flash flood watch Saturday as the National Weather Service forecast up to a foot of rain in the Austin-San Antonio area. Sections of North Texas, which were already soaked, were expecting up to 7 more inches of rain. Rains lasting throughout the day in Texas on Friday left many major roads and highways flooded.
The rains in Texas have vanquished a drought that struck the state over the summer. Now, state officials worry about widespread flooding.
Officials in Hidalgo County planned to hand out free sandbags to help residents prepare for the expected deluge. Heavy rains, gusty winds and tidal rises of up to 5 feet prompted a coastal flood advisory for the upper Texas Gulf Coast, the Associated Press reported.
The potential for flooding comes five months after torrential spring storms caused more than 30 deaths and left large swaths of the state underwater. That Memorial Day weekend weather system brought an astonishing amount of rainfall, with some isolated areas receiving more than 20 inches. Homes were either damaged or swept away by river water southwest of Austin, about 1,500 homes in the Houston area alone sustained flood damage, and neighborhoods throughout the state were cut off by rising waters.
Little rain had fallen since then.
More than half of the state's 254 counties had outdoor burn bans in effect Friday, due to previously dry conditions, the Texas A&M Forest Service reported.
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Original source: News (World) :: Texas hit with heavy rains, heightened flood threat.
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