Tropical Storm Beta has left roads and neighborhoods completely flooded in and around Houston, Texas, after making landfall Monday night with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour.
The slow advance of the storm, which
is traveling at only 2 miles per hour in a northeast direction
, makes it particularly dangerous, because at a slower speed the rainfall in the same area is greater, which causes flooding.
The National Weather Service said areas south and east of Houston were already seeing water accumulations of 10 inches (25 centimeters) or more by noon from Beta.
A driver abandons his vehicle on a flooded Houston road from Storm Beta;
September 22, 2020 Via REUTERS
The storm is expected to drop more rain over central and eastern Texas throughout the afternoon and evening of this Tuesday, before continuing its course toward Louisiana (where it will pass through a region that has already been flooded by the pass). Hurricanes Laura and Sally in recent weeks), Arkansas and Mississippi.
[How and when to prepare for a hurricane or tropical storm]
Authorities urged Houstonians to stay home and avoid driving if possible.
Dozens of highways and streets were closed by rapidly rising water,
including parts of Interstate 69 and Interstate 45 and state highways 288 and 290.
On Highway 288, several drivers had to abandon their vehicles in the rising waters.
A video shared by local station KTRK showed half a dozen vans with their doors open submerged in the middle of the road.
[The hurricane season was expected to be intense: it will be even worse]
In southwest Houston, which was flooded in the early hours of the morning, diners at a restaurant came out and found their cars underwater, according to the local station quoted.
Employees of businesses in that area had to go to an elevated highway to ask for a ride home.
A man rides a bicycle on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, in Houston, after Tropical Storm Beta caused flooding in the city.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Houston Chronicle via AP) AP
By 11 p.m., the Houston Fire Department had completed 20 evacuations of flooded vehicles, Chief Samuel Peña tweeted.
The High Water Rescue team worked through the night.
School districts in southeast Texas closed schools and promoted classes online or canceled them entirely.
[Hurricane Laura reaches Category 4 and will cause a historic “impossible to survive” storm surge and “destructive” winds in Texas and Louisiana]
The storm made landfall Monday night on the upper coast of the state near Matagorda Bay (5 miles north of Port O'Connor and 110 miles southwest of Houston / 176 kilometers).
At least 10 million people are under Beta Alert.
A man walks down a flooded street in Galveston, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, as Tropical Storm Beta approaches.
(Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle via AP) AP
In Galveston, an island city southeast of Houston, the coastal area was flooded by rising tides and part of a
popular fishing pier collapsed
due to strong waves.
Nearly 200 miles away, streets were also flooded in Rockport, located northeast of Corpus Christi.
As the storm headed for the coast, the Coast Guard rescued a man aboard a disabled 20-foot boat two miles south of the Port Aransas piers, east of Corpus Christi.
The man was taken to Mustang Beach Airport in Port Aransas.
On Monday, Governor Greg Abbott issued a
disaster declaration for 29 Texas counties
before Beta's arrival.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency.