Daisy Espinoza / Houston Public Media
Some local school districts are issuing delays Monday after cities north of Houston to southeast Harris County were battered by heavy storms and strong winds overnight Sunday.
Widespread flash flooding stretched across the Greater Houston area overnight. Trinity County, just north of Huntsville, received an upwards of 11 inches of rainfall while areas east of Houston reported up to nine inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Trinity, Liberty and Groveton Independent School Districts will remain closed throughout Monday. Barbers Hill, Coldspring-Oakhurst, Iola, Livingston, Shepherd and Texas City Independent School Districts issued delays and will open late Monday morning.
“Yesterday afternoon, evening hours, we did have some strong to severe thunderstorms that may have produced tornadoes up towards Madisonville, Trinity, those areas,” Jimmy Fowler, a senior meteorologist with National Weather Service told Houston Public Media Monday. “Really the most impactful weather that occurred overnight was the extreme rainfall that fell, where we have had widespread flash flooding experience throughout Walker County, Trinity County.”
Storms continued to push through Houston Monday morning, and a flash flood warning is in effect across Galveston until 9:15 am Monday.
In a video posted to Facebook late Sunday, Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said a tornado touched down in Trinity, completely wiping out a house.
“We’ve got power lines down everywhere out here,” he said in the video, imploring residents to stay aware of the weather.
National Weather Service Monday couldn’t immediately confirm the presence of a tornado in Trinity County overnight.
“We had a flash flood emergency issued last night for Trinity County for the areas between the town of Trinity and Groveton,” Fowler said. “They had upwards of 11 inches of rainfall with numerous reports of flooded roads, high water rescues and stuff like that.”
