Hurricane Imelda Pounds Texas, Leaves 2 Dead

Rainfall from storm Imelda deluged a swath of Texas and parts of Louisiana over the last two days.

Authorities reported widespread severe flooding and at least two deaths as of September 20. 
Beaumont recorded 43 inches of rain, which places Imelda as the seventh-wettest tropical cyclone in U.S. history.

In Houston, barges broke free from their moorings and hit a bridge forcing the closure of Interstate 10.

Houston ISD closed schools, and Houston George Bush International Airport grounded flights. 

More than 200 abandoned vehicles were recovered by Houston police on city streets as of September 19, and scores of other vehicles were left behind on roads. Six storm shelters in the city are housing about 120 people. 

Bolivar residents were coping with water restrictions after the peninsula’s water treatment plant in Winnie failed. 

On September 19, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a state of disaster for the southeast Texas counties of Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Orange, and San Jacinto. 

This article was originally published by Strategic Partnerships Inc.