Yahoo – AFP,
26 may 2015
 |
Vehicles
are left stranded on Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015,
after
heavy rains put the city under massive amounts of water (AFP Photo/
Aaron M.
Sprecher)
|
Houston
(AFP) - Torrential rain left large parts of Houston submerged Tuesday and
trapped fans at an NBA basketball game, in savage weather that has killed
nearly 20 people in the United States and Mexico.
The
southern US states of Texas and Oklahoma, and northern Mexico, have borne the
brunt of several days of violent weather, including tornadoes, which have left
scores dead, missing and injured on both sides of the border.
More than
10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain fell in just a few hours in the Texas city
of Houston, triggering the worst flooding there in at least a decade and
stranding at an arena a Houston Rockets player and spectators who had gone to
see the basketball team Monday night.
Hundreds of
vehicles, some fully under water, were abandoned on Houston's roads. Some
people were trapped in their cars, others marooned in their homes, as flood
waters rose menacingly up around them.
Two people
died overnight in the flooding in the city, Mayor Annise Parker said, with the
toll expected to rise. Both had drowned.
"I
want to ask and urge people to continue to be safe and recognize that we may
have more rain later today," she said, encouraging people to stay at home
in America's fourth-largest city.
 |
The
southern US states of Texas and Oklahoma, and far northern Mexico,
have borne
the brunt of several days of wild weather, including tornadoes, which
have
destroyed homes, seen rivers swell to record levels and left cars
submerged on
highways (AFP Photo/Aaron M. Sprecher)
|
"We
have cars littered all over the city," she told a press conference, adding
that emergency crews were attempting to reach the abandoned vehicles to see if
anyone had been trapped inside.
Downtown
Houston, where the Toyota Center is located, was not under water, said Parker.
But about 200 fans had been unable to get home from the NBA game for several
hours after the deluge and a few settled down for the night in the arena.
At least
one Rockets player, center Dwight Howard, was among those stranded into the
night after learning of the treacherous road conditions.
"There's
no need to try to push it," the Houston Chronicle reported him as saying.
"I
don't think it's smart for anybody to try to be out in this weather."
President
Barack Obama called the flooding in Texas "terrible" and said he had
offered urgent assistance to state Governor Greg Abbott.
'I love
you. And pray'
Fears were
growing meanwhile for at least 12 people still missing in Hays County, also in
Texas.
 |
Vehicles
are left stranded on Highway
288 in Houston, Texas on May 26,
2015, after heavy
rains put the city
under massive amounts of water
(AFP Photo/Aaron M. Sprecher)
|
Many of the
dozen missing in Hays County were from one house that was torn from its
foundations during a terrifying flash flood over the weekend.
View
galleryVehicles left stranded on a flooded Interstate 45
in …
Vehicles
left stranded on a flooded Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015,
after heavy rai …
There were
two families staying at the A-frame house in the picturesque town of Wimberley
for the long Memorial Day weekend, NBC News reported. Among them were three
children.
Inside was
Laura McComb, who was on the phone with her sister when the house, built on
stilts, broke off and was swept away.
"We
are in a house that is now floating down the river," she reportedly told
her sister, Julie Shields. "Call Mom and Dad. I love you. And pray."
Shields
told the NBC affiliate KXAN that the phone call ended when McComb thought she
saw a light from a helicopter that had come to rescue them.
She has not
been heard from since Saturday night.
Baby
found dead
 |
Vehicles
left stranded on a flooded Interstate
45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015,
after heavy rains put the city under massive
ammounts of water (AFP Photo/Aaron
M.
Sprecher)
|
A savage
twister roared through the border city of Ciudad Acuna at dawn Monday, killing
at least 14 people and flattening hundreds of homes in a deadly six-second
blast.
Among the
victims of the tornado’s 270-300 kilometer-per-hour (168-186 miles) winds was a
baby boy who was ripped from the grasp of his desperate parents and flung into
the air.
His body
was found on Tuesday after a frantic search.
The child
was "catapulted by the tornado," Mayor Evaristo Lenin Perez said.
"It
was horrible. It started raining in the morning. Very early, the wind came and
everything started to fly around and then it all fell to the ground,"
Ciudad Acuna resident Juanita Perez said tearfully.
The federal
government said the tornado destroyed 247 homes and damaged another 450.
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