Emergency crews in parts of Texas were busy on Wednesday, helping residents leave flooded homes and dealing with fallen trees after Tropical Storm Edouard moved through the area the night before.
As the remnants of the storm crawled inland overnight and into Wednesday, heavy rain lashed southeastern Texas, with some areas receiving well over a foot. While the brunt of the tropical storm passed Tuesday night, forecasters warned that another surge of rainfall could arrive Wednesday evening and persist into Thursday.
Little Pine Island Bayou recorded more than 17 inches of rain after the storm moved ashore, while nearby areas measured between a few inches and more than a foot.
Officials with the Polk County Office of Emergency Management were watching creek levels and coordinating voluntary evacuations in residential areas.
Several adults and a child needed help getting out of a flooded mobile home, said the office’s coordinator, Courtney Moncrief.
“We did even have some folks in that area that chose to remain behind,” she said. An American Red Cross shelter was open at a gym in Livingston.
Crews were contending with trees that fell on homes, waterlogged roadways and widespread power outages that left thousands without electricity into the evening, Ms. Moncrief said.
“Now we’re expecting another round of heavy rainfall,” she said on Wednesday evening.
Although the tropical storm had weakened into a tropical depression, meteorologists at the National Weather Service warned Wednesday that the storm’s remnants could still set off “considerable to locally catastrophic flash flooding” overnight. Re-forming thunderstorms could drop more than 3 inches of rain an hour.
Forecasters expected the heaviest rain Wednesday night to shift slightly north of the areas worst hit earlier in the day. While the next round is not expected to be as severe, meteorologists cautioned that additional rain could still cause significant damage.
The National Weather Service issued various flash flood and tornado warnings. But there were no reports of a tornado touching down, said Hayley Bailey, a Weather Service meteorologist in Houston.
An additional 2 to 6 inches of rain was possible through Thursday morning, with isolated areas seeing higher amounts.
Polk County, and the mayors of various area cities, issued disaster declarations Wednesday.
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