06:13 PM CDT on Monday, June 19, 2006

From 11 News Staff reports & Associated Press

David Paul's forecast

Flash flooding from torrential overnight rains wreaked havoc with Houston-area commuters Monday, closing some highways and leaving drivers stranded for hours. No serious injuries were reported.

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This was an all-too-familiar image all over the Houston area.

The National Weather Service blamed a slow-moving low pressure system for dumping the heaviest rain in Harris County—between 9-10 ½ inches—and primarily southeast of downtown Houston in the area around the city’s Hobby Airport.

And that low pressure system isn't likely to go anywhere soon, according to 11 News Meteorologist Dr. Neil Frank.

Flood warnings remained in effect for areas near bayous that run through the east and south portions of Harris County and a flood watch was in effect until Tuesday morning for about a dozen counties in Southeast Texas.

The National Weather Service extended the flood watch until Tuesday morning for parts of southeast Texas, including Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty, Galveston, San Jacinto, Wharton and Waller counties.

Mayor Bill White took a helicopter tour over some of the hard-hit areas and described it as “block after block after block flooded.”

But he and Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said drainage improvements undertaken since Tropical Storm Allison’s catastrophic damage five years ago are working, and pointed to other areas of the city that were spared in Monday’s deluge.

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Boats and rafts were the vehicles of choice in this South Houston neighborhood.

“We live in Houston, Texas, and you can’t be surprised at flooding in Houston,” White said. “When you have this much rain in a short period of time at a place that’s near sea level, then you still have some real risk.”

White said the vast majority of an estimated 500 emergency calls to 911 operators were for motorists stranded on flooded roads.

A second round was expected to come through in the evening.

"It may be late this afternoon," 11 News meteorologist David Paul said. "I think more likely it will be overnight tonight, but it's tough to time it exactly.

“We could see more bands of thunderstorms develop this afternoon, and it’s our great concern,” said 11 News chief meteorologist Doctor Neil Frank.

Monday's worst problems were reported in southeast Houston.

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Some people made the most of the flooding.

“There were 11 inches down I-45 near Pasadena,” said Dr. Frank.

The National Weather Service reported almost 6 inches of rain fell within 75 minutes near Hobby Airport in southeast Houston. It estimated 5 to 8 inches of rain fell in three hours along Sims Bayou in southeast Houston.

Houston Airport System spokeswoman Marlene McClinton said Hobby Airport itself did not flood, but the roads around it did, preventing crews from getting to work on time.

She said the airport was shut for about 2 ½ hours, but was reopened by 8:45 a.m. About 50 arrivals and departures were canceled and some small planes were diverted to Bush Intercontinental Airport, north of downtown, which received just over 2 inches of rain.

Interstate 10 -- the main east-west highway—and some other major arteries were flooded during the morning rush hour, primarily along the highway service roads, and numerous school districts called off classes.

Gov. Rick Perry made available 25 Texas Army National Guard trucks with crews, three helicopters with flight crews, swift water rescue teams and one incident management team from the Texas Forest Service, but Harris County authorities said the forces weren’t needed immediately and would remain on standby.

“If weather patterns indicate we may need to staff up for that, we’re certainly prepared to do so,” Mike Montgomery, emergency management coordinator for Harris County, said.

Eckels urged people to use common sense.

In Louisiana, emergency crews evacuated more than 100 patients from Holly Hill Nursing Home, where the water was a foot deep in the halls. Fire departments from Sulfur and Lake Charles and two ambulance companies were moving patients to another nursing home in Lake Charles, about 15 miles away, officials said.

“There’s pretty widespread flooding around the parish. A lot of roads are closed,” said Dick Gremillion, the Calcasieu Parish emergency preparedness director.

Police urged residents of Sulphur to stay home unless there was an emergency.

Some houses in the town flooded, but most of the flooding appeared to be caused by wakes produced by passing vehicles, Assistant Police Chief Glenn Berry said.

Josh Lichter, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Houston, said another rainmaking storm was expected to develop late Monday afternoon.

“We’re not exactly sure where these new storms are going to form,” Lichter said. “We’re going to get another round of storms forming. Our concern is that it’s going to happen right over the same area of Houston and that could definitely cause some significant problems.”

Lichter said the rains were expected to move out of the Houston area by Wednesday.

“We probably have another 48 hours of this,” he said Monday morning.

Rain chances through dinner time remain at 70 percent.