Evacuations ordered and homes damaged in Texas as rivers reach Hurricane Harvey levels

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Flooding is intensifying in Texas after strong storms and heavy rain washed away vehicles, damaged homes and prompted evacuations.

This week’s storms were just the latest in a series of brutal weather events that have hit the state since early April. Dozens of tornadoes have struck from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast, some areas of the state have been hit by baseball-sized hail, and months of rain have fallen on East Texas in intense gusts, causing rivers to swell. at levels not seen since the devastating flooding of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Some communities north of Houston received nearly two months’ worth of rain Thursday. This rain submerged roads underwater and forced rivers to overflow, prompting evacuations and water rescues.

In Polk County, about 80 miles northeast of Houston, about 700 homes have been flooded, according to emergency management officials, who warned that additional rain could keep flood levels rising in the coming days.

A total of 1,000 homes are in a mandatory evacuation zone in the county, with rescues underway and more than 1,000 homes in the mandatory evacuation zone, Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy told CNN. The flood warning remains in effect Friday for the county.

The judge said they were concerned and were keeping an eye on what was happening north of the county with the flooding because it would affect the county.

“Due to continued rainfall in East Texas and rising levels in streams and rivers, flood levels may increase. Please monitor changes in flood levels along the Trinity River and ALL low levels. If you want to evacuate, do it now!,” the emergency management office recently said in a Facebook post.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered Thursday in parts of Harris County, north of Houston, for residents on the east side of the East Fork of the San Jacinto River. The river reached major flood stage Thursday and was forecast to crest Saturday morning just feet from the record level during Harvey.

“We want him out of this area…this is a life-threatening situation,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at a news conference. conference.

The expected level of rising water will affect overhead structures and may rise to rooftops or power lines, according to Hidalgo.

Mandatory evacuations due to flooding were also ordered for parts of San Jacinto County and Polk County, with voluntary evacuations for Montgomery County.

Disaster declarations are active in more than a third of Texas counties after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded storm-related declarations in response to flooding, according to a news release. Additional counties could be added in the coming days, particularly with more storms in the forecast.

Parts of East Texas have received three to seven times more rainfall than usual over the past three to four weeks. Repeated bouts of heavy rain soaked soils, making many areas extremely prone to flash and river flooding. Nearly a foot of rain fell in some places between Thursday and Friday morning, delivering the final blow. Periods of rain will continue into Friday night with an additional 1 to 2 inches possible.

The worst flooding is limited to southeast Texas, where at least a dozen river gauges, including parts of the San Jacinto and Trinity rivers, are in major flood stage, the highest level, as of Friday morning. Several more locations are forecast to experience significant flooding by the weekend and could meet or exceed record levels set during Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey caused a widespread flooding disaster in Houston after dropping between 30 and 40 inches of rain across the metropolitan area in just 48 hours. While this week’s flooding is notable, it is much less widespread and occurs north of where Harvey’s worst rains fell.

As torrential rains flooded East Texas, strong storms spawned tornadoes both north and south of the Abilene area of ​​West Texas. There were eight reports of tornadoes on Thursday, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

A “large and extremely dangerous” tornado hit the cities of Hodges and Hawley, about 10 miles north of Abilene, Thursday night.

About 30 homes in Hawley were destroyed by the tornado’s winds, and entire sections of some homes were completely exposed. Cars driving through the area were also damaged by flying debris. There were “numerous” injuries, but no deaths as of Friday morning, Hawley Police Chief Brad Wilson told CNN.

At least one area school district will allow students to study from home or take time to recover on Friday following Thursday night’s damaging tornado.

“The Hawley community has been greatly impacted and we have several families who have lost their homes,” the Hawley Independent School District said in a Facebook post.

Additional severe thunderstorms are possible across parts of Texas on Friday afternoon and evening. There is a level 3 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms for parts of west-central Texas, including the areas hardest hit Thursday.

CNN’s Andy Rose, Joe Sutton and Paradise Afshar contributed to this report.