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Rain, flooding and hail again pummeled the Houston region early Friday as hundreds of schools shuttered and even an alligator was displaced while residents coped with the week’s torrential downpours.
Three to 5 inches of rain fell south of Interstate 10 by early Friday, and hail as large as tennis balls hit Clear Lake and other areas, according to the National Weather Service. More rain and thunderstorms remain possible early Saturday, mainly along the coast, with a flash flood watch in effect until 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office rescued about 100 stranded motorists, and Precinct 3 constables helped another 40 motorists in the Channel View and Cloverleaf areas, where street flooding was prevalent late Thursday and early Friday.
The east side of Interstate 10 was shut at one point Thursday night “because of the volume of rain that came down very quickly,” said Mark Sloan, coordinator for the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “We’ve seen an incredible amount of drainage today. And we’re feeling really good about where we’re at in terms of creeks and bayous.
Rising water is an all-too-familiar sight in Houston, which has repeatedly flooded in recent years because of insufficient drainage and rapid development that reduced wetlands. Many areas hit by rain this week were evacuated during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which flooded more than 200,000 homes in the Houston area and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage in Texas.
“I’m tired of being wet,” said Jennifer Wilson, a homeowner who had just finished rebuilding after Harvey.
Wilson’s home in Porter had almost 2 feet of water inside on Tuesday afternoon. It had taken the family four months after Harvey to replace their carpet, and Wilson had started thinking about remodeling her daughter’s room. She partly blamed the new homes that had been built around her neighborhood for reducing the open land where water could otherwise flow.
“You’re building everything up, so the water’s going to go to all the subdivisions around you that are lower because it doesn’t have anywhere to go,” Wilson said.
Citing an abundance of caution, the Houston, Cypress-Fairbanks and Katy school districts were among three dozen local school systems that canceled classes Friday. It’s unclear whether students will be required to make up the day.
Houston Community College postponed its commencement from Saturday until May 17, and most Harris County courts canceled dockets and jury duty.
At one point Friday, nearly 160,000 CenterPoint Energy customers were without power. More than 62 flights were diverted to Bush Intercontinental Airport, and Southwest Airlines canceled over 90 flights from Hobby, Houston Airport System spokesperson Bill Begley said.
Numerous passengers were stranded overnight.
“Things are a little slow; we’ve had some delays,” Begley said. “But nothing beyond the normal impacts on operation when you get a backlog.”
Rain totals appeared to be highest in central and southeast Harris County over the last 24 hours, according to the flood warning system. The storms didn’t produce as much rainfall as storms earlier in the week, which dumped 10 to 12 inches of rain on Sugar Land and Kingwood.
Residents took to social media to show pictures of the hail that punctured the Houston area Thursday night. Precinct 3 Constable Wayne Thompson tweeted pictures of balls of hail about the size of the palm of a hand.
In Katy, police reported finding an alligator washed up near railroad tracks in town. The police turned the gator over to a game warden.
And although the retractable roof at Minute Maid Park was closed, some fans at the Houston Astros’ Thursday night game were drenched after the roof began leaking.
The Red Cross continued to operate shelters five shelters for displaced residents in Houston, Kingwood and New Caney.
Marcy de Luna, Rebecca Hennes, Samantha Ketterer, Julian Gill, Jay R. Jordan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.