Strong storms spin tornado, flood streets

Strong storms pounded the Houston area on Monday, flooding streets, spawning a tornado and dropping hail. Severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood warnings and flood advisories remain issued for southeast Texas counties.Weather Alerts IssuedRadars | Radar Loop | Lightning Tracker "Whenever a thunderstorm is strong enough to produce hail, it's strong enough to produce a tornado. They almost go hand-in-hand" KPRC chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley said. "These heavy rains continue to push across Houston and into the east at 25 mph. Four inches of rain has been common south of Interstate 10. Although there's not much behind this system, we're going to continue to deal with this until 2 o'clock." By 1:30 p.m., the coastal areas and Galveston County began feeling the brunt of the storm. Fort Bend County was hit the hardest. Sugar Land recorded the most rain with 6.20 inches as of noon. Katy had 4.36 inches. Pearland logged 3.88 inches and Houston had 4.20 inches of rain. "We've got a lot of lightning with this system and that's also a big danger," KPRC meteorologist Anthony Yanez said. "There's a lot of heavy rain." A tornado touched down in Fort Bend County along FM 1093 and FM 723 shortly after 9:30 a.m. The Sheriff's Office said power lines and trees were down in the area. Beverly Moore heard the tornado approach her house on FM 723. "All the doors in the house were trying to open and shut. It sounded like a train going through, so we hid in the closet," she said. "It was definitely a tornado. We hid for about 15 minutes." "We've heard of roof damage in a neighborhood," said a spokesman with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. "There's been quite a bit of flooding. There's been some hail but we haven't heard anything about injuries." Several homes in the Kingsbridge Place neighborhood in Fort Bend County were severely damaged by the storms. Bricks, wood and shingles were torn off houses and garage doors were twisted and bent. "I was actually sleeping when it all happened," one of the residents said. "All you hear is it starts raining harder and you can feel the wind pushing inside the house. Then the door flies open and the ceiling starts leaking." A neighbor said they did not know what was happening. "We thought it was like an earthquake or tornado," he said. "At my house, a piece of wood came through the wall. The wall didn't collapse, but a piece of wood came right through it. We're lucky to be alive." The Richmond Fire Department helped residents evacuate around Third Street as water crept into houses. "We've had reports of water in homes," said Alan Spears with the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management. "We had some boat evacuations going on. A funnel cloud was spotted on Highway 99 shortly after 9 a.m., but there were no reports of it touching down. Afternoon pre-kindergarten classes were canceled for the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. The floodwaters were receding in the area of Highway 6 and Bissonnet about 11 a.m., but it was still knee-high in the middle of some area streets. High water was reported on freeways across the city. There were at least 15 locations where water impeded freeway traffic at midday. The main lanes of state Highway 288 near Holly Hall were impassible and drivers tried to turn around in the median, but they did not get very far because the other side of the road was also flooded. Officials recommend drivers stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. "It only takes about 6 inches (of water) to knock a person over," said Michael Walter of the Houston Office of Emergency Management. "It only takes about 2 feet of water to wash away an SUV." Firefighters have had to rescue several people from flooded vehicles. "If you see water in front of you, just avoid it," Walter said. "Go a different way. The big thing is turn around, don't drown." CenterPoint Energy said approximately 16,000 customers were without power at noon due to the storm, mainly on the southwest and west-side. An upper-level low will move through the Houston-area the rest of the day. "We've got a stalled front and a lot of moisture coming in from the sub-tropical jet-stream. A pattern like this brings in a good amount of rain," Yanez said. Houston drivers dealt with slick streets for their early morning commute. "We had a wave of rain move through at about 1 to 2 a.m.," Yanez said. "It's going to be wet all day long, at least off and on. We're going to get a lot of rain out of this today, up to 5 inches in spots." Monday's high is forecast to be 68 degrees from noon until 3 p.m. Morning showers are also possible on Tuesday and Houstonians have a chilly week ahead. "Our next freeze could come in on Friday," Yanez said. More Weather: Houston JustWeather.comSevere Weather AlertsWeather Maps and RadarsRadar LoopsLightning TrackerWeather Videos Check Traffic Now:Houston TranStar Real-Time Traffic MapTraffic Pulse Real-Time Traffic MapJennifer's Traffic BlogTraffic SectionHouston TranstarTexas Dept. of Transportation Web site (or call 800-452-9292)Harris County Office of Emergency Management Web site Construction Information:Map: Freeway Construction ProjectsTxDOT Freeway Construction Schedule Airline and Airport Links:Houston Airport System: Bush Intercontinental and Hobby AirportsAirTran AirwaysAmerican AirlinesContinental AirlinesDelta AirlinesFrontier AirlinesJetBlueNorthwest AirlinesSouthwest AirlinesUnited AirlinesU.S. Airways

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45928765/ns/local_news-houston_tx/

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