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“It’s A Madhouse” – At Least 6 Dead, 12 Missing As Floods “Hammer” Texas & Oklahoma
“We got hammered,” Houston's emergency management coordinator Rick Flanagan told CNN, and as the following stunning images show, that is an understatement. “We've seen flooding before, but not nearly to this extreme,” said one resident, adding “It rains and it rains and it rains, and there's really nowhere for the water to go… It's ridiculous.“ Perhaps even more stunningly, as Mashable's Andrew Freeman notes, the floods have been a remarkable turn of events for a region that was still mired in drought as of three weeks ago. That drought, which had affected Texas since 2010, is now effectively over in most areas, as is a long-running drought in Oklahoma. Authorities are still searching for 12 members of two families who went missing over the weekend.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday described the flash flooding that had killed at least three people in his state as “a relentless wall of water that mowed down huge trees like they were grass.”
Abbott declared states of disaster in 24 counties and flew over the area south of Austin to assess the damage caused by tornadoes, heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and flooding that forced evacuations and rooftop rescues and left thousands of residents without electrical power.
“This is the biggest flood this area of Texas has ever seen,” Abbott said.
“It is absolutely massive – the relentless tsunami-type power of this wave of water,” the governor said.
He described homes that were “completely wiped off the map” by the dangerous weather system that struck Texas and Oklahoma.
Widespread severe thunderstorms were forecast to continue on Monday in north-central and northeast Texas and southern Oklahoma, likely bringing destructive winds, tornadoes and hail, the National Weather Service said.
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530 AM: Here's a look at where some of the heaviest rain fell overnight for Southeast TX: #txwx #houwx #bcswx pic.twitter.com/r6TMJuaDRu
— NWSHouston (@NWSHouston) May 26, 2015
As the following images from Mashable show, they did indeed “Get hammered.”
Memorial Drive in Houston is flooded after storms flooded the area, Tuesday, May 26, 2015. Overnight heavy rains caused flooding closing some portions of major highways in the Houston area.
People look at flooding in Houston, Texas.
People look at the rising waters in Houston, Texas from atop a building.
Motorists are stranded along I-45 along North Main in Houston after storms flooded the area.
A little girl looks at a flooded car downtown in Houston, Texas.
Cars remain stranded along a flooded section of Interstate 45 after heavy rains overnight in Houston.
Robert Briscoe checks the damage to his flooded car along Interstate 45 in Houston.
Flooding in downtown Houston, Texas climbs toward a highway's overpass.
People on an overpass look down at the vehicles left stranded on a flooded Interstate 45 in Houston,.
A car sits in flooded waters in Houston, Texas.
The streets of Houston were flooded during the early hours of Tuesday, May 26.
Stranded motorists wait for floodwaters to recede on Interstate 45 after heavy rains overnight in Houston.
A vehicle left stranded on a flooded Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas.
A tree branch floats down a flooded road in Houston.
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Finally this seemed to sum it all up nicely…
It's like a scene from a post apocalyptic Mad Maxx Beyond The Thunderdome. #houstonflood #KHOU pic.twitter.com/xT5EVL1cTz
— Shern-Min Chow (@ShernMinKHOU) May 26, 2015
Source: http://silveristhenew.com/2015/05/26/its-a-madhouse-at-least-6-dead-12-missing-as-floods-hammer-texas-oklahoma/
