HOUSTON – On Wednesday morning, Texas Highway 288 looked like a waterway.
There was no rush to the morning rush.
Hundreds of drivers were stranded wither in the water or between the ponds on the freeway.
One driver said, “When I saw everyone else stop. Man, I'm not going to flood my car. So, I stopped right here with everybody else. And shut it down. I can't take the risk of drowning. I got to save my life you know.”
Houston firefighters working the stretch between Binz and MacGregor near the Texas Medical Center said they safely got lots of people out of the water and onto the much higher access roads.
A driver told KPRC 2, “This is a disaster. It is. I never been stuck like this. I've been out here since 5:30. I've got to go to work. I might not go to work.”
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As the water slowly went down, drivers considered trying to escape even before the roads had cleared.
As one driver put it, “We want to try and take a chance. We want to follow her. But she's really scared to take a chance. The smart thing. If not, I probably would have went on and took a chance. Should have stayed home!”
After as many as four hours stranded on the freeway, the Brays Bayou carried the water downstream and drivers were finally able to drive safely off of the freeway or to have their waterlogged cars towed away.
PHOTOS: Flooding pics from viewers
Here's a list from Houston TranStar of the locations being affected:
- IH-10 EAST Westbound At JENSEN DR 3 Frontage Road Lanes
- IH-10 KATY Eastbound At Smith St/ Louisiana St Exit Ramp
- WESTPARK TOLLWAY Eastbound At POST OAK Exit Ramp
For more information on high water locations, click or tap here.
BAYOU LEVELS
Here's a list of bayou levels as of 2:45 p.m:
- Brays Bayou and Keegans Bayou are within banks, have crested and are falling at all gage locations.
- Hunting Bayou is near top of bank at Lockwood Drive, with street flooding, but beginning to slowly fall across the entire watershed.
- Upper Spring Creek is overbanks at Hegar Road and rising slowly, with main impacts to low-lying roads crossing the creek.
- Upper Cypress Creek is within banks, but rising slowly; no flooding expected.
- Little Cypress Creek is at bankfull level near Becker Road and rising slowly, in banks along the rest of the channel.
- Greens Bayou has crested and is beginning to fall.
- Buffalo Bayou has crested and is slowly receding.
- White Oak Bayou has crested and is receding at all locations.
- South Mayde Creek has crested and is falling.
- Far southeast Harris County saw relatively little to no rain.
[WATCH: Rain leads to widespread flooding]
Check the forecast any time by visiting the weather page of Click2Houston.com or by downloading Frank's forecast app on Apple or Android devices.