Tropical Storm Imelda Claims Five In Texas
Fox News reports that the death toll in the east Texas floods produced by Tropical Storm Imelda has risen to five.
Hundreds of homes and other buildings in the Houston area have been damaged by the storm, reports Fox. Imelda has deposited more than 40 inches of rain in some areas as it traveled across a region extending east from Houston to the Louisiana border.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster for the counties impacted by Imelda and officials in Harris County, which is home to Houston, were trying to determine if millions of dollars in uninsured losses were enough to trigger a federal disaster declaration.
The heaviest rainfall had ended by Thursday night in Southeast Texas, but forecasters warned that parts of northeast Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana could see flash flooding as Imelda’s remnants shifted to the north.
“The issue is that you can’t get 40 inches of rain in a 72-hour period and be fully prepared for that,” Jefferson County spokeswoman Allison Getz told The Associated Press on Friday. “At this point we haven’t been able to fully assess what’s happened.”
Learn about the Red Cross’s efforts to help the victims of Tropical Storm Imelda, and how you can help, here.
