At least seven people died in flooding in Texas over the Memorial Day weekend, and heavy rains will continue to douse the state through the end of this week. On Wednesday, thunderstorms are forecast to dump rain on Oklahoma and central and western Texas, but Houston and eastern Texas, still reeling from heavy weekend flooding, will get hit again on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. In suburban Houston's Fort Bend County, the Brazos River surpassed 54 feet on Tuesday night, topping a 1994 record by about four feet. With the coming rains, the Brazos is expected to match a record crest from 1957, the Houston Chronicle reports.
The flooding has prompted evacuations, and in Fort Bend County, the rising water has reportedly brought with it water moccasin snakes and other critters looking to ride out the floods in houses, according to KHOU-TV. And once the swollen rivers have crested, they won't recede for several days, says Alan Spears of the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management. "This is one of those lifetime events," he added. "We are kind of anticipating some things that we've never seen before." For more on the flooding, watch the Associated Press report below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
4 ways to give back this holiday seasonThe Explainer If your budget is feeling squeezed, remember that money is not the only way you can be generous around the holidays
-
4 tips for hosting an ecofriendly ThanksgivingThe Week Recommends Coming together for the holidays typically produces a ton of waste, but with proper preparation, you can have an environmentally friendly gathering.
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appealSpeed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversibleSpeed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floodsSpeed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
-
Cuba roiled by island-wide blackouts, Hurricane OscarSpeed Read The country's power grid collapsed for the fourth time in just two days
-
Wildlife populations drop a 'catastrophic' 73%Speed Read The decline occurred between 1970 and 2020
-
Floridians flee oncoming Hurricane MiltonSpeed Read The hurricane is expected to cause widespread damage in the state
-
Beryl kills 4, knocks out power to 2.7M in TexasSpeed Read Millions now face sweltering heat without air conditioning
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rainSpeed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
-
EPA limits carcinogenic emissions at 218 US plantsSpeed Read The new rule aims to reduce cancer-causing air pollution in areas like Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley'
