The Brazos River is expected to crest today – experts are predicting it reach 53.5 feet. Over the Memorial Day weekend the river had already swollen 8 inches above its 1994 record height.
Stories of water rescues and evacuations have been all over the news. And so have reports of storm-related deaths: a 16 year-old boy was killed by a falling water-logged tree branch while helping neighbors pick up debris. A woman was overtaken as her mobile home filled with water. Cars were washed off the road.
Rebecca Elliott has been covering the floods for the Houston Chronicle. She spoke to one woman, Anice Divin, who lives about 30 miles southwest of Houston in Richmond, Texas.
Divin says she hadn’t seen water up to her home before this weekend and she’s been living in the area for 49 years.
“She was pretty unconcerned walking out there in her rain boots, with the water almost coming in over the top,” Elliott says. “It really struck me – her reaction. She was planning to stay.”
Since Monday morning, the water has risen at least another foot, but the effects of the flooding are isolated, Elliott says.
“It was sunny most of this weekend and most residents outside of the watersheds were just going about their daily lives,” Elliott says. “Driving through the city you don’t see anything … and then down the street, down the hill, you have families in a boat and a woman holding out in her house as the water comes up slowly.”
