DALLAS – Apartments, schools, and buildings were evacuated Wednesday as rain continued to pour down on North Texas from the remnants of Tropical Depression Hermine.
The Willows Apartments, 2024 Park Springs Boulevard, was evacuated by Arlington Fire-Rescue workers as a nearby creek rushed out of its banks and flooded the parking lot.
Residents were forced to climb to the roof of their buildings, then escorted down fire truck ladders to safety
TRAFFIC TROUBLES
North Texas commuters woke up Wednesday to pouring rain and one of the worst rush hour commutes in recent memories.
About three dozen wrecks had been reported just on the local freeways before 7 a.m., according to FOX 4 traffic reporter Chip Waggoner. That figure didn’t take into account surface streets.
Heavy, nearly constant rain made driving treacherous for most motorists, thanks to ponding on the road and poor visibility.
Several roads known for flooding, such as Dallas’ Northwest Highway near Lawther Drive, were quickly inundated by high water early this morning.
About 11,000 customers were out of power, according to Oncor.
Nearly two inches of rain fell at DFW Airport between midnight and 7 a.m., according to FOX 4 Meteorologist Evan Andrews.
Parts of North Texas could expect up to three more inches before Wednesday is over.
Hermine is now a tropical depression, but still packs a powerful punch for Texas and other parts of the country.
“This is going to be much more of a memorable storm than Alex,” National Weather Service meteorologist Joseph Tomaselli said.
Hermine made landfall early Tuesday in northeastern Mexico with winds of up to 65 mph, arriving near the same spot as Hurricane Alex in July. By Tuesday night, maximum winds speeds had decreased to about 35 mph (55 kph).
A peeled-back motel roof in the coastal farming town of Raymondville and scattered power outages were about the worst left over from the gusty, drenching storm that came and went quickly after creeping up on Texas and Mexico in the warm Gulf waters over the long holiday weekend.
“I think we’re lucky. It could’ve been worse,” said Art Nelson, sizing up the hulking aluminum shed that collapsed on a farming plow at his John Deere store in Raymondville.
The Coast Guard said it received multiple reports of vessels in distress late Monday and early Tuesday. Monday evening’s incoming tide freed a fishing boat that had run aground in the Brownsville Ship Channel near Port Isabel, but Coast Guard crews and other officials had to rescue 17 crew members and a dog from three other fishing vessels that got stuck near the South Padre Island beach. All were treated for minor injuries, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.
Mexico felt the storm effects much more acutely than Texas on Tuesday as Hermine knocked out power for several hours in the border city of Matamoros and damaged about 20 homes, whose inhabitants were among 3,500 people who evacuated to shelters.
Authorities in Mexico said there were no reports of serious injuries or death, which was welcome news after 12 people in Mexico died in flooding caused by Hurricane Alex earlier this summer.
Authorities had released water from some dams in Mexico to make room for expected runoff. That added more anxiety in the northeast cattle-ranching region where residents already live under the fear of a bloody turf war between drug cartels. Hermine struck around the same area where 72 migrants were killed two weeks ago in what is believed to be the country’s worst drug gang massacre to date.
