Ron Brackett
At least four deaths are being blamed on severe storms that brought days of torrential rainfall to Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.
The deaths were confirmed by the Louisiana Department of Health and include two people who died because of flooding in the Baton Rouge area, a 76-year-old man also in the Baton Rouge area who was dependent on oxygen and died during a power outage, and a 61-year-old man found in a submerged vehicle in Calcasieu Parish.
More than 55,000 homes and businesses in Texas had no electricity as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to poweroutage.us. Most of those were in the Houston area, which saw lightning, hail and strong winds overnight. The number had dropped to about 25,000 by Wednesday evening.
More than 1,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the Houston area during the storms, according to KTRK. The lightning was blamed for fires at two apartment complexes.
(MORE: Flash Flood, Severe Threats Continue in Parts of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas)
One fire at an apartment complex in northwest Houston started just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, KHOU reported. There were no injuries and firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading beyond one apartment.
Four apartments were damaged by fire and smoke and four more had water damage after lightning struck a complex in Friendswood, a small city on the southeast side of Houston, KTRK reported.
Neighbors knocked on doors and got everyone out safely after the fire began about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, KTRK reported.
Houston police blocked traffic on Homestead Road to remove sheets of metal that had been blown off a roof, KHOU reported. Other streets were impassable because of standing water.
Many schools, including Cleveland ISD, Dayton ISD, Liberty ISD, Royal ISD and Shepherd ISD, announced they would be closed on Wednesday. Others planned to delay opening.
In Arkansas, at least 15 people had to be rescued from flooding in Saline County, according to the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management. At least four homes and eight cars were affected by flooding.
The threat of additional flooding continues at least through Thursday from southern and eastern Texas into southern and western Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma and western and central Arkansas, according to weather.com meteorologists.
In Louisiana, where the governor declared a state of emergency, two of the four deaths were attributed to flooding in the Baton Rouge area. A 40-year-old man died Monday night when a vehicle ran off a highway and into a flooded ditch in Port Allen, Louisiana, according to the Louisiana State Police. One person survived the crash and another was missing. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday recovered a body from a flooded vehicle under Interstate 10 on Bluebonnet Boulevard in Baton Rouge. Several vehicles were abandoned in a heap in deep water below the underpass late Monday.
More than 600 water rescues were reported in the Baton Rouge area Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Extensive flooding was reported throughout Lake Charles, which is still trying to recover from major damage caused by hurricanes Laura and Delta last year and an ice storm in February. More than a foot of rain was recorded at the airport, while nearly 18 inches was reported southwest of the city.
Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said the flooding affected 400 to 500 homes, some of which were damaged in last year's hurricanes.
“The plight of the average homeowner in Lake Charles is unthinkable at this moment. You have people that are possibly ripping out Sheetrock and renovating a home for now the third time in a course of six, seven months. And the financial capability of this city, the human capital that we have here, is finite,” Hunter told the AP.
Two feet of water entered Jennifer Herbert's home.
"We actually flooded from Delta and we were in the middle of renovating. We just got done with our kitchen and now we're taking everything out," Herbert told KTRK. "We're just taking one step at a time."
Ryan Terrell, a contractor who is helping families rebuild, saw his business flooded again, too.
"From Hurricane Laura to Hurricane Delta to, what was next, the ice storm. You start to get a handle on things and then everything hits the fan again," Terrell told KTRK.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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