Hundreds of water rescues were underway in Houston early Sunday, officials said, as torrential rain from deadly Hurricane Harvey caused “catastrophic flooding” in the city and across southeast Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.
“This is a life-threatening situation,” said Michael Palmer, lead meteorologist at the Weather Channel.
As responders rushed to save people from flooded homes and stranded cars, the City of Houston said emergency services were “at capacity” and warned residents to “shelter in place” and not to call 911 unless they were in “imminent danger.”
The south side of the city was being deluged by up to six inches of rain every hour overnight, the Office of Emergency Management said.
The Houston flooding came as emergency services along the Gulf Coast scrambled to reach those in need of assistance, and millions of people surveyed the devastation wreaked by the storm.
At least two people have died since Harvey made landfall late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane. One person was found dead in a vehicle in Houston on Saturday night in a possible drowning amid flooding in the city, a Houston fire department spokesperson said. Another died in a house fire in Aransas County that rescuers could not reach because of flooding.
The full extent of the damage was not yet clear and heavy rain and fierce winds have kept emergency crews from reaching the hardest-hit places.
The storm was centerd around 50 miles east, southeast of San Antonio as of 5 a.m. ET Sunday, with 45 mph winds and “torrential rains” expected to continue, the National Hurricane Center said.
Forecasters warned that a major threat is the sheer volume of water expected to dump over the region over the next several days — including flood-prone Houston.
“When you get rates of over six inches of rainfall an hour it overflows the drainage systems and homes and businesses will be flooded, which is what we’re seeing now in Houston,” Palmer said.
He warned that the storm was likely to stay in the same area for the next few days meaning rainfall would continue to fall over southeast Texas. “The flooding is only going to get worse as we go forward,” he said.
Current forecasts see total rainfall between Sunday and Thursday reaching 40-50 inches, which “would be one of the worst floods in U.S. history,” Palmer said.
Full Coverage: The Latest on Tropical Storm Harvey
More than 45,000 people were without power in Houston early Sunday as city officials warned residents to stay at home as rescue operations were carried out.
A pregnant woman going into labor was among the rescued, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonsalez said early Sunday.
“There are a number of people on our streets calling 911 exhausting needed resources. You can help by staying off the streets,” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo posted a warning on Twitter, saying: “Cannot emphasize enough how much flooding there is on roadways you are endangering yourself and our first responders by being out stay put … do not think it’s safe to be driving anywhere in the city.”
He added: “Have reports of people getting into attic to escape floodwater do not to do so unless you have an axe or means to break through onto your roof.”
William P. Hobby airport in Houston said all flights were cancelled Sunday, due to standing water on runways.