HOUSTON – It continues to pour in many areas across southeast Texas Wednesday.
Fortunately, it looks like we may not have to deal with rain for much longer. The area should see a break this evening before one final round of heavy rain pushes through early Thursday.
That being said, there are several areas along some major rivers that will need to be watched even once the rain is over.
Lets take a look at some areas that could be trouble spots in the coming days.
SAN JACINTO RIVER
Fortunately, most of the creeks and bayous in Harris County appear to be holding strong as of Wednesday afternoon. Many areas that are common trouble spots for flooding are holding within their banks.
Outside of a few spots in the northwestern part of the county, it looks pretty good around Houston area bayous. A spot that will have to be watched in the coming days though is the San Jacinto River leading into Lake Houston. The areas to the north of Houston in Montgomery County has seen impressive rainfall totals. On top of that, water is being released from the dam at Lake Conroe. This water will be heading downstream and will meet up in the Humble area with several other creeks, such as Cypress Creek and Spring Creek.
This could lead to flood problems later on this week. As you can see on the graph above, the river near Humble is forecasted to crest on Friday at 51.7 feet. This would be in moderate flood stage for this section of the river. Areas near the river near Highway 59 should exercise caution and avoid areas near the water until the river begins to come back down.
TRINITY RIVER
Another area of concern is the Trinity River below the Lake Livingston dam. This watershed has received a ton of water from areas such as Walker County and Polk County where flooding has been an issue already. Because of the massive amounts of water pouring into the lake, the dam has been forced to open many of its gates. As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the lake was releasing 71,600 CFS of water. This has led to voluntary evacuation orders for some areas along the river in San Jacinto County.
Just like with the San Jacinto River, this water being released from Lake Livingston has to go somewhere and that somewhere is downstream. In the coming days, areas such as Liberty County and Chambers County will see the river rise. The forecast for the river at Liberty is for it to make it to major flood stage by Friday and to stay in that state through the weekend and into next week. People should stay away from the river until it begins to recede.
SAN BERNARD RIVER
One other river that will need to be watched is the San Bernard River in Brazoria County. While this area hasn’t seen quite as much rain as say areas to the north and west of Houston, much of that water that has fallen will be heading south. This will lead to a rise in the San Bernard River in the next few days.
The forecast is for the San Bernard River near Boling to crest at 22.3 feet on Thursday before falling. That would mean it would enter into moderate flood stage. Thankfully, outside of Thursday morning, we are not expecting much more rainfall for the next week. That being said, it will take time for the rivers and creeks to come down so any more rain we get between now and when this system finally gets out of here Thursday afternoon would aggravate the problems we are already seeing.